|
You can get e-magazine links on WhatsApp. Click here
|
|
|
CRIDA and state govts prepare crop contingency plans for 576 districts
|
Friday, 26 December, 2014, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
|
Our Bureau, New Delhi
|
fiogf49gjkf0d The immediate challenge faced by the agriculture ministry when the new government took over was to sustain the increasing agricultural output of the country in the face of impending deficit rainfall in this year 2014-15.
All the requisite preparatory measures were made in coordination with the state governments to put district-wise contingency action plans in place and to bring in flexibility in the various schemes in order that the states are enabled to cope with any desired changes in the approved action plans for tackling the situation arising out of deficit rainfall.
With this perspective, the Central Research Institute for Dry Land Agriculture (CRIDA), in collaboration with state agricultural universities and the state governments, has prepared crop contingency plans in respect of 576 districts across India.
Further, all the necessary and appropriate steps have been taken to meet the seed and fertiliser requirements, and to disseminate information on the suitable farming practices to be followed in such a situation. Indian agri at a glance
Agriculture continues to be the backbone of the Indian economy. The sector employs 54.6 per cent of the total workforce.
The total share of agriculture and its allied sectors (including the livestock, forestry and fishery sub-sectors) to the gross domestic product was 13.9 per cent in 2013-14 at 2004-05 prices, as per the estimates released by the Central Statistics Office.
For the Twelfth Five-year Plan (2012-17), a growth target of four per cent had been set for the agriculture sector.
As per the Fourth Advance Estimates of foodgrain production for 2013-14, the total foodgrain production was estimated to be 264.77 million tonnes. Growth strategy
In order to keep the momentum gained during the Eleventh Five-year Plan; achieve the targeted growth rate of four per cent during the Twelfth Five-year Plan, ensure a focussed approach, and to avoid overlapping, the ongoing 51 schemes of the department have been restructured into five missions - the National Food Security Mission (NFSM); the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH); the National Mission on Oil Seed and Oil Palm (NMOOP), the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), and the National Mission on Agricultural Extension and Technology (NMAET).
In addition, there are five Central Sector Schemes - the National Crop Insurance Programme (NCIP); the Integrated Scheme on Agri-Census & Statistics (ISAC&S); the Integrated Scheme of Agriculture Marketing (ISAM); the Integrated Scheme of Agriculture Cooperation (ISAC), and Secretariat Economic Service; and one State Plan Scheme (the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana [RKVY]).
Recognising the importance of the agriculture sector, the government, during the 2014-15 Budget, took a number of steps for the sustainable development of agriculture.
These steps included enhancing the institutional credit to farmers; promoting scientific warehousing infrastructure, including cold storage units and cold chains in the country, to increase the shelf life of agricultural produce; giving improved access to irrigation through the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sichayee Yojana; the provision of a price stabilisation fund to mitigate the price volatility in agricultural produce; putting in place a mission mode scheme for soil health cards; setting up of an agri-tech infrastructure fund for making farming competitive and profitable; providing institutional finance to the joint farming groups of Bhoomiheen Kisan through the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD); the development of indigenous cattle breeds, and promoting inland fisheries and other non-farm activities to supplement the income of farmers.
The details of the initiatives are as follows:
Rashtriya Gokul Mission
India ranks first among the world’s milk-producing nations. The milk production peaked at 137.97 million tonnes in 2013-14.
India has the largest bovine population in the world. The bovine genetic resource of India is represented by 37 recognised indigenous breeds of cattle and 13 breeds of buffalo.
Indigenous bovines are robust and resilient, and are particularly suited to the climate and environment of their respective breeding tracts.
The Rashtriya Gokul Mission, a project under the National Programme for Bovine Breeding and Dairy Development, is being launched with the objective of conserving and developing indigenous breeds in a focussed and scientific manner.
The potential to enhance the productivity of the indigenous breeds through professional farm management and superior nutrition, as well as the gradation of indigenous bovine germplasm would be done with an outlay of Rs 550 crore.
Rail milk network
In order to promote the agri rail network for the transportation of milk, orders have been placed by Amul and the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) on behalf of the Dairy Cooperative Federations for the procurement of 36 new rail milk tankers and would be made available by the Railways. This would help in the movement of milk from milk-surplus areas to areas where there is demand, providing dairy farmers with greater market areas.
An allocation of Rs 50 crore has been provided for the development of indigenous cattle breeds.
The Blue Revolution, for the development of inland fisheries, is being initiated with a sum of Rs 50 crore.
The target for providing institutional agricultural credit to farmers in 2014-15 was enhanced to Rs 8 lakh crore. It is expected that the target would be surpassed.
Agriculture credit at a concessional rate of seven per cent, with an interest subvention of three per cent, for timely repayment would continue during 2014-15.
An allocation of Rs 5,000 crore for 2014-15 has been made for scientific warehousing infrastructure for increasing the shelf life of agricultural produce, and thereby increasing the earning capacity of farmers.
A higher allocation of Rs 25,000 crore has been made to the corpus of the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund during 2014-15, which helps in the creation of infrastructure in the agricultural and rural sectors.
An initial corpus of Rs. 4,000 crore is being created to set up long-term rural credit fund in NABARD to give a boost to long-term investment credit in agriculture.
For ensuring the increased and uninterrupted credit flow to farmers and to avoid high-cost market borrowings by NABARD, an amount of Rs 50,000 crore was made in 2014-15 for short-term cooperative rural credit (STCRC) refinance fund.
To improve access to irrigation, the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sichayee Yojana was initiated with a sum of Rs 1,000 crore in the year 2014-15.
To mitigate the price volatility in the agricultural produce, a sum of Rs 500 crore has been provided for the price stabilisation fund.
The government has initiated the soil health card scheme for every farmer in a mission mode, with an initial allocation of Rs. 100 crore in 2014-15.
An additional amount of Rs 56 crore was made to set up 100 mobile soil testing laboratories countrywide.
The National Adaptation Fund for climate change has been established with an initial allocation of Rs 100 crore.
To protect landless farmers from money lenders, five lakh joint farming groups of Bhoomiheen Kisan would be financed through NABARD in the current financial year.
A Kisan television channel dedicated to agriculture would be launched with the initial allocation of Rs 100 crore in the current financial year.
An initial allocation of Rs 200 crore has been allocated for the establishment of agriculture universities in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan and horticulture universities in Telangana and Haryana.
An allocation of Rs 100 crore has been made in the current financial year to set up two institutions of excellence in Assam and Jharkhand, which would be at par with the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Pusa.
An allocation of Rs 100 crore is made for 2014-15 for setting up an agri tech infrastructure fund with a view to increasing public and private investments in agriculture and making farming competitive and profitable.
The various initiatives taken by the government to support agriculture and allied sectors is to sustain the growth rate at four per cent.
In order to increase profitability for small and marginal farmers, Rs 200 crore has been earmarked for the setting up of 2,000 farmer producer organisations (FPO).
Wage employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) would be mainly used for more productive asset creation, substantially linked to agriculture and allied activities.
A sum of Rs 14,389 crore has been earmarked for the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana for 2014-15. It would improve access for the rural population, including farmers.
With a view to promoting farmers’ and consumers’ interest, the setting up of a national market would be accelerated by encouraging states to modify their APMC Act and other market reforms.
With a view to develop commercial organic farming in the North-Eastern region, a sum of Rs 100 crore has been allocated.
The Centre recognises and discharges its responsibility to assist the states in the overall development of the agriculture sector. Effective policy measures are in a position to improve the agricultural production and productivity and address the problems of farmers.
The state governments have also been impressed upon to allocate adequate funds for the development of the agriculture sector in the state plan and initiate other measures required to achieve the targeted agricultural growth rate and address the problems of farmers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|