A facility for commercial production of bio-fertilisers was inaugurated at Indira Gandhi Agriculture University (IGAU) premises here on Friday.
State Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal inaugurated the ‘Centre of Excellence Building’ that will help scientists to enable commercial production of bio-fertilisers.
The Minister also inaugurated the Bio-fertiliser Production cum Training Center and Bio-control agent production and Training Center. The occasion was marked with presence of Vice-Chancellor IGAU Dr SK Patil and others.
University officials informed that the Production Center will help in producing bio-fertilizers for all kind of crops cultivated in Chhattisgarh according to its demand.
The facility includes tissue-culture plant, bio-inoculants, bio flayer and diagnostic kit. Bio-control agent Production and Training Center will also produce Tricoderm.
Notably, the Central Government recently allocated `4.29 crore during the current financial year to the Chhattisgarh Government for implementation of 'Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization' (SMAM) , officials stated.
The Department of Agriculture & Cooperation in the Union Agriculture Ministry is implementing a total of five Centrally-sponsored Schemes (CSS) namely: Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), National Food Security Mission (NFSM), National Mission of Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP), National Mission on Agricultural Extension and Technology (NMAET), National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA); and Central Sector Schemes (CS) namely Integrated Scheme on Agriculture Marketing (ISAM), Integrated Scheme on Agriculture Cooperation (ISAC), Integrated Scheme on Agriculture Census, Economics & Statistics (ISACE&S), Secretariat Economic Services, National Crop Insurance Programme (NCIP); and one State Plan Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY).
All the above schemes/ missions have now been regrouped under four main schemes namely: a) National Crop Insurance Programme (NCIP); b) Krishi Unnati Yojana; c) Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY); and d) Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY) to ensure growth in agriculture sector and for the betterment of farmers.
The Department of Agriculture & Cooperation (DAC) is providing financial support to the States for agricultural development through the above schemes/ missions as per the approved Annual Action Plans of the States, officials stated.
Further, through these schemes/ missions, resources in different forms, like quality seeds; farm machineries, such as, self propelled paddy transplanter, chiseller, rotavator, laser land leveler, plant protection equipment (manual/power sprayer), chaff cutter, sprinkler/pump set, seed treating drum, seed drill/zero till, multi crop planter/ridge furrow planter/raised bed planter, groundnut digger, power weeder, water carrying pipes, mobile rain gun, multi crop thresher; plant protection chemicals; micro nutrients & soil ameliorants; chemical fertilizers; bio-fertilizers etc. are made available to the farmers at subsidized rates. Other resources like storage godowns, cold storage facilities, marketing infrastructure etc. are also created for benefit of the farmers.
With the acceptance and adoption of the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, the financial devolution to the States has risen from 32 percent to 42 percent of the central tax revenue.
With this, the sharing pattern of the funds for CSS has been changed. The States would now share the funding by a larger margin relative to pre-devolution period.
The budgetary allocation of the DAC for the Centrally Sponsored Schemes has been accordingly provided for, officials stated.