A National Workshop on “Per Drop More Crop (PDMC)” was organised by Department of Agriculture& Farmers Welfare (DA&FW), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India here today to discuss with the stakeholders the various approaches which can be adopted for increasing penetration of micro irrigation in the country. Participants from various Ministries/ Department of Central Government, States and UT’s, Irrigation Industries, Startups working in water management sector and Farmers Producer Organisations were present in the event.
Shri Manoj Ahuja, Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW) inaugurated the event. He emphasised on adoption of technologies in implementation of the programmes and focused approach for enhancing micro-irrigation coverage and thereby increasing overall efficiency and water productivity of agriculture for ensuring food and nutrition security of the country and incomes of the farmers, particularly in rainfed areas. Dr. Himanshu Pathak, Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research & Education (DARE) also addressed the inaugural session. He urged all participants to make efforts for adoption of micro-irrigation on large scale for reducing water footprint of agriculture sector.
Shri Franklin L Khobung, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare explained in detail the Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) Scheme and the progress made so far. It was informed that Department of Agriculture, Farmers Welfare (DA&FW) is implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) from 2015-16 in all the States of the country which focuses on enhancing water use efficiency at farm level through Micro Irrigation viz. Drip and Sprinkler irrigation systems. An area of 78 lakh ha has been covered under Micro Irrigation from 2015-16 to till date which is about 81% more than the area covered during pre-PDMC 8 years. The Government has been focusing on increasing water productivity in agriculture and thereby sustainable agriculture and incomes of farmers. A Micro Irrigation Fund (MIF) with a corpus of Rs. 5000 Crore has been created with NABARD during 2018-19 with major objective to facilitate the States in mobilizing the resources to provide top up/additional incentives to farmers for incentivising micro irrigation beyond the provisions available under Per Drop More Crop as well as innovative integrated projects including projects in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) for expanding Micro-irrigation. A Budget announcement has been made to double the initial corpus of Micro Irrigation Fund under NABARD, by augmenting it by another Rs. 5,000 crores.
During the programme, five Best Gram Panchayats from States of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu were recognised for their efforts in high micro-irrigation adoption and best practices in water management sector. Besides, leading States in the micro-irrigation shared the practices and innovative methods being followed in their States for enhancing the micro-irrigation coverage and their popularity among farmers. Leading experts from Ministry of Jal Shakti flagged the need and strategies to cover micro-irrigation in irrigated commands as well as emphasised its effectiveness in Ground Water management and sustenance. The representative from NABARD elaborated on various financing options available for expanding micro-irrigation in the country. Micro Irrigation industry members expressed their active support for the efforts being made by the Government in this national priority programme.
Shri Franklin L Khobung, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare also held discussion with stakeholders on the draft revised guidelines for implementation of PDMC Scheme. During the discussion, he highlighted the role of different stakeholders in the successful implementation of the scheme. He emphasised the need of taking steps by State/UT Govts. in streamlining the implementation procedure and also on the role of MI industries in achieving the objectives of the scheme.