Odisha targets to double farmers’ income in next five years

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has set a target to double the income of farmers in next five years.

“The state government has targeted to double the income of the farmers in the next five years. To achieve the target, the state government will make the irrigation network more intensive and expedite mega lift irrigation projects,” said chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi on Thursday.

It was decided at the cabinet meeting on agriculture presided over by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Padhi said as per National Sample Survey organisation (NSSO) report, Odisha is the only state to have doubled the income of farmers in real terms in the country between 2003 to 2013.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said while the government assumed office in 2000, Odisha was a rice deficit state importing rice from other states for running its Public Distribution System.

“With our efforts, in 2006, Odisha became self-sufficient and from then onwards we have become a rice surplus state. In fact, we are now the third largest contributor of rice to the Public Distribution System in India,” said Patnaik.

He said the efforts of the government in augmenting the irrigation potential and use of technology has started showing results even though the government has a long way to go.

The government has ensured crop insurance coverage of more than Rs.1700 crore benefiting more than 11 lakh affected farmers in the state this year, he added.

Informing that irrigation is one of the primary concerns for the government, he said annual target for creating irrigation potential would be 2.5 lakh hectares through all departments.

He said a committee will be constituted at the state level under the chairmanship of Development Commissioner for monitoring the creation of irrigation potential and closing the gap between the potential created and utilized, on a monthly basis.

The progress made will be appraised in the Agriculture Cabinet meetings on a regular basis.

He said the construction of the new 5 lakh LPD modern dairy plant should be taken up expeditiously and be commissioned within two years.

The mobile advisory services for the animal rearing farmers should be rolled out immediately and the services are made available to three lakh farmers within two years in a phased manner.

The Chief Minister said a Drought Management Cell would be set up in OSDMA for drought management and advance information regarding drought.

“Automatic weather stations and rain gauges should be installed across the state for real-time information on weather and rainfall. Satellite data should be effectively used by the Drought Management Cell to provide timely information for taking various measures for combating moisture stress,” he added.