An amount of Rs1,356.61 crore loan had been distributed to 4.51 lakh farmers during the current Kharif season by the Chhattisgarh Primary Agriculture Co-Operative Committees, officials stated.CM Raman Singh has assured farmers that they will be provided with short-term farm loans at zero per cent interest rate.
As per the directives, the farmers are given loans in the form of cash amounting to 60 per cent and the rest as fertilizers, seeds.Chhattisgarh State Co-operative Bank (Apex Bank ) chairperson Ashok Bajaj said that all the 1,333 co-operative committees are distributing loans to the farmers at zero per cent interest rate.
The process of giving loans had started on April 1 for the Kharif season. About 1356.61 crore loans have been given away till June 30 to the farmers. This is about 51 per cent of the total loan disbursement. The target is to disburse Rs2,650 crore short-term loans during the current Kharif season.
About 27,000 farmers had been given Rs75.25 crore short-term loans. The State Government's Agriculture Department has set the target of cultivating cereals, pulses, oilseeds and other crops on area of 48.20 lakh hectares in current Kharif season.
The task includes cultivation of paddy, corn, lentils, urad, soyabean and peanuts on 43.79 lakh hectares. In remaining 4.31 lakh hectare of area, other crops will be sown, officials stated.Agriculture Department officials also informed that target has been set to grow paddy on 36.45 lakh , corn on 2.25 lakh hectare, lentils on 1.42 lakh hectares, Urad on 1.64 lakh hectares, Soyabean on 1.58 lakh hectares and peanut on 55,000 hectares.
A State-level Monitoring cell has been established at the Directorate of Agriculture in Raipur to keep track of the availability of basic ingredients for the Kharif season 2015. The move is to ensure farmer are made available urea, seeds, high-quality farm equipment, organic manure and other necessary material, officials stated.
Notably, Agriculture Service Centres have been established in every development block of the State from where the farmers are provided agricultural equipments on rent. Chhattisgarh now has also set a target of promoting cultivation of vegetables in 4,425 hectares of land under National Horticulture Mission. An amount of Rs175 crore had been earmarked for implementing its Annual Plan 2015-16 under National Horticulture Mission in Chhattisgarh.
The annual plan was endorsed in a meeting of the 12th Working Committee of the State Horticulture Development Society chaired by Additional Chief Secretary of Agriculture Department Ajay Singh.The plan comprises a target for cultivating vegetables in an area of 4,425 hectares for which a provision of Rs15.16 crore was proposed. A provision of Rs13.50 crore had been made to promote vegetable cultivation in the State.
A target of 2,500 hectares had been set for growing condiment based crops while a target of 2,240 hectares had been set for Floriculture . A provision of Rs4.50 crore had also been made for carrying out organic farming and Rs1.52 crore for promotion of bee keeping.This apart, a provision of Rs1.12 crore had been made to develop new water sources.
last year, the State Government had embarked on an ‘Organic Farming Mission’ on an experimental basis in five districts of the State namely Kanker, Koriya, Raigarh, Raipur and Dantewada, officials said. The National Agriculture Development Scheme is being implemented since year 2007-08 with objectives of expanding cultivation area of fruits, vegetables and spice crops and supplying advanced high-quality seeds to farmers.
Earlier under Shakhambari Scheme, subsidy was provided for only electricity and diesel based irrigation pumps but now farmers using petrol based irrigation pumps are also eligible for availing subsidy under this scheme, they stated. The Government had been providing free seeds and fertilizers to the tribal families holding forest rights certificates. The arrangements for free distribution of seeds and fertilizers have also been made, officials stated.