State Agriculture Minister Badal it is not job to allocate funds and spend them, but there is a need to look closely at the problems of the farmers.
Badal was addressing all the District Agriculture Officers (DAOs) and District Cooperative Officers (DCOs) of the State in the State Level Kharif cum Millets Workshop 2023 organized on the occasion of International Millets Year 2023 in the auditorium of Pashupalan Bhawan, Hesag.
Badal said that there is a need to learn from such districts, in which schemes have been implemented in an excellent manner. He said, we are providing seeds at subsidized rates to the farmers of the State, but there is a need to work on why we are lagging behind in empowering the farmers financially. “Statistics say that 80 per cent of the people of our state are dependent on agriculture, but have we been able to benefit 80 per cent of the farmers with all our schemes? If you ever brainstorm, you will find that you still have a lot of work to do. If the farmers do not get the benefits of all the schemes at different levels, then the officials should improve their working style,” he added.
The Minister said that the share of agriculture in the State's GDP is 14 per cent, which we want to take up to 20 per cent. “Institutions like Birsa Agricultural University are our allies in this, but we have not yet been able to assess what work we need to do for non-irrigated land. Irrigation can be done with the water of check dams, mines. We can move forward by making big water reservoirs, but for that the officials will have to plan and work. The assured irrigation area will have to be increased,” he added.
“From 2019 to till now, our department has given about Rs 4500 crore for the welfare of farmers, which is a record till now. At the same time, the loan of 5 lakh farmers was waived, as well as 9.38 lakh farmers were also given the benefit of the outstanding insurance from the previous government. Rs 3500 per acre per farmer was given under Chief Minister Drought Relief. Even after getting the benefits of so many schemes, if the farmer is not aware of the works of the Government, then believe that the farmers are organizationally weak today. They need to be strengthened. The officers should use the DMFT fund and prepare schemes and work for the welfare of the farmers,” said Badal.
Addressing the office bearers, Secretary, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Cooperative Department, Abu Bakar Siddiqui said that both Kharif and Rabi crops are very important, but Kharif is very important. Kharif crops are grown on about 18 lakh hectares of land in the State, most of which is rain-fed. “The officials need to be more active in the Kharif season, because Kharif is the basis of Jharkhand's life. This type of workshop should also be held at the district level, in which even the smallest units of the Agriculture Department should be included, along with progressive farmers should also be included. According to the needs of the farmers, connect them with the schemes. We have many welfare funds for agricultural development through which agricultural schemes can be implemented. Officers should make plans, but remember that the welfare of the farmer is the aim of the department and the welfare of the state and the country will come from the farmer,” he added.
Agriculture Director, Chandan Kumar said that the aim of the workshop is to focus on the technical points of promoting Kharif crops. He said that seed distributors should be linked to the partner portal of the Central Government, QR code would be generated from it and there would be transparency in distribution. Nano fertilizer has been started in the State including providing soil health cards, he added.