Bhubaneswar, Nov 17: The Irrigation potential will have to be maximized to boost up agricultural productivity in the state. This decision was taken at the third Agricultural Cabinet meet presided by Odisha CM, Naveen Patnaik at the State Secreatriat here today.
Briefing about the same, Chief Secretary, Aditya Prasad Padhi said that on the basis of the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) statistics data available from 2003 to 2013 it is stated that Odisha is the first state in the nation which has doubled the average monthly income of the farmers. India’s average increase in income of farmers is 34 percent whereas Odisha had increased it to 108 percent. He further stated that in 2003, the average monthly income of the farmers in Odisha was Rs 1000 which has now gone slightly higher to Rs 2000 in the year 2012-13. The necessary steps to be taken to further double the income of the farmers in the next five years were discussed and to achieve this target the state government has decided to make the irrigation network more operational and intensive thus expediting mega lift irrigation projects. Around 10-15 mega lift irrigation projects in each of the 17 sectors of the state will be planted in the upcoming five years.
Also the fact that Odisha lags behind compared to other states in cases of water usage efficiency, it was thus decided in the meeting that efficiency to increase more agricultural productivity would be increased. He pointed out that presently, the level of wastage of water is higher than the level of usage of water in Odisha. For a constant flow of water, the ruling government would expedite the repair of canals which are dysfunctional at present. Much attention would be paid on the Bore Well scheme. There was a target to energise 12,000 bore wells this year of which 6500 bore wells have been energised so far and so to energise the remaining bore wells efforts will be undertaken to make it happen in the next 4-5 months.
In Animal Husbandry and Fishing sectors, the state government is likably investing more. The state government has already formulated new policies for these two sectors and so a state-level committee has been set up under the chairmanship of the Developmental Commissioner. It is now his responsibility to improve the performance of different sectors of Agriculture. There will be secretaries of Finance, Agriculture, Water Resources, Energy and Panchayati Raj as the members of the set up committee. The committee’s job will be to scrutinize the creation of irrigation potential and also to close the gap between the potential created and the potential utilized. Every month the committee will have a review meet and will submit a report to the Agriculture Cabinet. Padhi further said that the CM has directed the concerned minister to let out a 5 lakh litre capacity plant of Odisha Milk Federation (OMFED) near Barang on the outskirts of the state capital as a commission within two years of time.
A Drought Management Cell for the Odisha Disaster Management Authority will also be formed to provide advance information regarding drought to the farmers and also the government. Hence, as prevention there would be more automatic weather stations installed throughout the state, which will help the state to receive advance information on weather and rainfall so that the satellite data for drought management can be effectively utilized.
Lastly, Padhi said that Patnaik highlighted that fact from being called a rice deficit state in 2000, Odisha has now become the third largest contributor of rice to the public distribution system (PDS) in the country. Directions were given by the CM to increase the agricultural productivity in the state which will hence prove beneficial to the farmers. It was also revealed at the meeting that state government has sanctioned about Rs 800 crore for crop insurance share. The meeting also revealed that the state government has sanctioned about Rs 800 crore towards crop insurance. Besides, the Centre has also released its crop insurance share and hence soon around Rs 1700 crore would be disbursed for odd pending crop insurance of the farmers since last year.
