A total of seven new Agricultural Science Centres will be opened in Chhattisgarh, officials stated.
The Centres would be opened at Raipur, Sukma, Mungeli, Durg, Bemetara, Balod and Surajpur.
Presently, as many as 20 Centres including Bilaspur, Ambikapur, Bhatapara, Jagdalpur, Rajnandgaon, Dhantewada, Gariaband, Dhamtari, Janjgir-Champa, Balrampur, Raigarh, Bhatapara, Narayanpur, Mahasamund, Kawardha, Koriya and Korba are functioning in the State.
State Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal on said that the ground staff of Agriculture, Horticulture, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry departments are trained in these Centres. Moreover, the latest researches of the Centres are utilized in the agricultural domains.
Farmers are encouraged to follow the latest researches with the presentations given by the scientists of the Centres, he said.
Agrawal said a four member team of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) had inspected Raipur, Bemetara, Mungeli and Balod districts for the site of.
The team will be visiting the state again this month wherein they are scheduled to inspect the sites for Sukma, Surajpur and Durg. According to the State Agriculture Minister the final decision of starting the seven KVKs will be taken after this inspection.
The Chhattisgarh Government has sent a proposal to the Central Government for setting up an ‘Organic Farming Research Centre’ in the State.
Presently, Chhattisgarh State Regional Organic Farming Research Centre is working under Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh), but as the agro-climatic condition of the State is different, Chhattisgarh has demanded from Central Government, Chhattisgarh's own Research Centre, Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal informed.
This apart, during the ongoing Rabi season, farmers have collected nearly 10.96 lakh packets of organic fertilizers for various crops, he said.
Chhattisgarh State Agriculture and Seed Development Corporation supplies organic fertilizers as per the demand of farmers, Agrawal said.
He said that organic farming has become need of the hour. The farmers are also becoming more and more aware about the benefits of this method of cultivation.
Under the leadership of Chief Minister Raman Singh, the State Government has launched Organic Farming Mission to promote organic farming in Chhattisgarh, he said.
This Mission is being conducted in all 27 districts of the state, under which nearly 3,854 hectares of land has been earmarked for organic farming. State-level organic farming cell and district level organic farming cells have been set up for success of the mission.
Farmers have been provided organic seeds to develop seven government agricultural cells as model organic cells.
On August 31 last year, Chief Minister Raman Singh had directed officials to draw an action plan for operating a State-level ‘Food Processing Mission’ in the State.
Chairing a meeting of the State Industry Department at the office at his residence in Raipur, the Chief Minister said that as per the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, the State would run the ‘Food Processing Mission’ while using its own resources.
He said that the State government has made a provision of Rs 12 crore for launching the State-level ‘Food Processing Mission’.
Singh said that the launching of Mission would help farmers get better prices for their farm produce and also open new job avenues for youth in the Food Processing sector.
Officials attending the meeting said that Food Processing Sector in Chhattisgarh is being seen as a ‘focus sector’ to ensure industrial diversity.
The Chhattisgarh government will also now promote use of solar photo voltaic power plants in cold storages in a bid to conserve huge quantum of energy consumed by such facilities in the State, officials stated.
The project is to be implemented by Chhattisgarh Renewable Energy Development Agency (CREDA), officials stated.
The solar power plant having 50 Kw minimum capacity would be installed in a cold storage in the State meant for storing fruits, vegetables and flowers.