Chhattisgarh Government has turned to promoting use of more organic fertilisers among farmers after seeing potential of high demand for organic farming products in global market.
In the current Kharif season, 9.43 lakh metric tonnes of fertilizers of different types have been distributed to farmers.
The State Government's Agriculture Department has set the goal of distributing nearly 11 lakh metric tonnes of organic fertilisers to farmers this year.
As many as 19.58 lakh packets of organic fertiliser have also been distributed to farmers of State.
A State-level Monitoring cell was established at the Directorate of Agriculture in Raipur to keep track on the availability of basic ingredients for the Kharif season 2015.
The move was to ensure farmers are made available urea, seeds, high-quality farm implements, organic manure and other necessary material on time, officials stated.
Chief Minister Raman Singh on August 24 this year had directed officials to draw an action plan for operating a State-level ‘Food Processing Mission’ in the State.
The Food processing sector globally had been looking at using organic raw materials for making various products to ensure purity.
Chairing a meeting of the State Industry Department at the office in 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 Rs12 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.
It was also informed in the meeting that during the last six months as many as seven MoUs were signed for attracting industrial investment to the State.
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, officials stated. 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 Rs 1.52 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 fertilisers to the tribal families holding forest rights certificates.The arrangements for free distribution of seeds and fertilisers have also been made.
Agriculture Service Centres have been established in every development block of the State from where the farmers are provided agricultural equipments on rent.
The State Government's 'Kisaan Samriddhi Yojana' has also proved to be a boon for farmers. Under this scheme, farmers are provided section-wise grant for tube-well digging. More than 75,000 farmers have been benefited under the scheme. State Government is operating number of other schemes, which have proved extremely beneficial for the farmers, officials stated.
Besides cultivation, animal husbandry and fishery are the additional source of income for farmers. Hence, State Government has included animal husbandry and fishery under its all-round agricultural development policy. With the help of Government schemes, large number of farmers has taken up employment-oriented activities to march ahead on the path of progress. To encourage farmers practicing traditional animal husbandry, State Government started the scheme of providing loan upto Rs1 lakh at one per cent interest rate from the previous year.This year, the loan amount has been increased to Rs2 lakh.