Riding high on hopes of a normal monsoon forecast, the Ministry of Agriculture aims to increase foodgrain production by 6.35 million tonnes to record 298.3 million tonnes in the 2020-21 crop year, comprising 149.92 million tonnes in kharif (summer) season and 148.4 million tonnes during rabi (winter) season.
At the annual kharif conference held through video conferencing, Agriculture commissioner S K Malhotra, on Thursday recommended standard operating procedure (SOP) for farm operations to use machineries to minimise labour requirement and urged farmers that they should take bath after day’s work and wash clothes with soap and sun-dry.
According to a presentation made by Agriculture Commissioner, both rice and wheat production targets are minimally higher than the previous year.
However, the focus is on driving the growth in pulses, coarse cereals and oilseeds. The foodgrain output in the 2019-20 crop year (July-June) is estimated at an all-time high 291.95 million tonnes, as per the second advance estimates released by the ministry in February.
On maintaining restrictions, Malhotra said: “Land preparation should be done by tractor driven machineries, which needs minimum labour. Farmers should use seed cum fertilizer drills, which involve less workers.”
Farmers should sanitise seed drill, plough, tractor before use and workers should wear face masks or cover face with three layers of chunnis, gamchha or towel maintaining a distance of at least 1-2 metre during farm operations,” he said.
He said that workers should have separate utensils which should be cleaned with soap after use. For transplanting of rice and vegetables, which is highly labour intensive, farmers should wash hands, legs and with soap when coming out of field for meal and rest.
While weeding and spraying of pesticides also, farmers should follow the SOP. All equipments should be sanitised and empty packets of pesticides should be burnt or buried in soil. Bags of seeds and fertiliser, however, may be reused after sun drying them,” he said.
Union Agriculture Ministry Narender Singh Tomar said that it has been decided that all States will ensure procurement at Village/Block levels as farmers are not allowed to move out of block due lockdown position. “ In addition, all States are taking steps for Direct Marketing/purchasing of crop produce from farmers,” he said.