Radha Mohan Singh reviews 2 years of Central Schemes for agriculture

A meeting of the senior officers from the Department of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Govt. of Maharashtra and officials and scientists of ICAR was held at CIFE, Mumbai under the Chairmanship of the Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmer Welfare Shri Radha Mohan Singh in order to review the status of agricultural progress of the 2 years of Modi Government’s Central Schemes and to provide the roadmap for further activities. Shri Singh urged the officials to ensure that 2016-17 should still be better in terms of achievements in various sectors of agriculture in the state.

The Department of Agriculture and Co-operation of Government of India achieved the following milestones during the past 2 years:

State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF): During last five years of previous government (2010-15), an amount of Rs.1632.81 crore were released to Maharashtra. In comparison during Modi Government Rs.8195 crore has been allocated for the years 2015-20.

National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF): During last five years of previous government, Maharashtra sought Rs. 10,582.38 crore under NDRF against which Government of India has sanctioned Rs, 2942.66 crore. In comparison, during Modi Government in last two years Maharashtra has asked for Rs. 10,016.10 crore against which Government of India has sanctioned Rs. 5012.35 crore.

Soil Health Management and soil health card scheme: Under Soil Health Management Rs. 453.85 crore have been released or the whole country in 2 years of Modi Government against Rs. 36.23 crore during the years 2012-13 and 2013-14 of the previous government which is more than 12 times. Under this scheme in MAHARASHTRA during the present government an amount of Rs.19.72 crore has released in 2014-16 so far. For 2016-17 Rs.50.03 crore have been allocated. To perform this work in an efficient manner 23 Soil Testing Laboratories have been established and 10 have been strengthened. As a result by 10.5.2016, 34.27 lakh soil health cards have been issued.

Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojna: For the first time to promote organic farming on a large scale, Modi Government has launched PKVY under which Rs. 99 crore was released during 2015-16 and Rs. 50.53 crore has been allocated for 2016-17. So far 932 clusters have been established.

Rainfed Area Development Programme (RADP): During 2014-16 of Modi Government with the assistance of Rs.65 crore, 14994 hectare area has been covered under Integrated Farming Scheme.

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY): To achieve “Har Khet ko Pani”, Modi Government has launched this ambitious scheme. Under this, district irrigation plans have been prepared in 9 out of 34 districts in the State. During 2014-16 with the assistance Rs. 265.88 crore, 86909 hectare area has been brought under drip and sprinkler irrigation system respectively. 1716 water storage structures were created which is highest during 2014-15 and 2015-16.

Centre of Excellence established in Maharashtra to demonstrate latest technology and train farmers to increase Production/ productivity of fruits and vegetables. The centre also produces quality planting material which are being made available to farmers at a reasonable rate.

Broad bad Furrow Cultivation in Soyabean has been promoted for better water drainage.

A Central Integrated Pest Management Centre (CIPMC) has been established at Nasik for monitoring and surveillance of Pests and promotion of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices.

The Government of India has planned to open a Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institute in the Maharashtra. 35 hectare land has been identified in Jalgaon district. Necessary action is being taken to start the institute in this financial year 2016-17.

Maharashtra has implemented a number of projects in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.

Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY): The state has 98 on-going projects during 2014-15 and 51 on-going projects during 2015-16.

Projects for Integrated development of scientific beekeeping including trainings, seminars, distribution of bee colonies, beehives, bee equipments, etc. with financial assistance of Rs. 58.00 lakshs have been sanctioned.

The Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries of Government of India achieved the following milestones during the past 2 years:

Sanctioned establishment of three Gokul grams one each Pohra, Amravati, Tathawade Pune, Palghar.

The number of animals insured under livestock Insurance has been increased from the earlier 2 milch animals to 5 milch animals and 50 small animals and coverage of districts has been increased from the earlier 18 to all districts in the State. 1,10,124 animals insured in the state during the last two years.

In total four colleges of Maharashtra number of seats has been increased from 266 to 384.

Insurance cover provided to 3,23,838 fishers during 2014-15 and also during 2015-16

Approved Phase-II expansion of Mirkarwada Fishing Harbour at total cost of Rs.71.81 crore.

Approved modernization of fishing harbor at Sassoon Dock at a total cost of Rs.52.17 crore with 50% central assistance.

Supported 33 wholesale and retail fish markets at Rs.17.77 crore.

The Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) of Government of India achieved the following milestones during the past 2 years:

Directorate of Floriculture in Pune established

A new ATARI opened in Pune
AICRP Centre on Plastic Engineering and Technology established
Agri-buisness Incubation Centre in CIRCOT, Mumbai
Centre for Zoonosis under Niche Area of Excellence established in Nagpur
5 Food Testing Labs approved
3 Agro-Proccesing Centres established
4 Experiential Learning Units established
48 new varieties of field crops released including a new sugarcane variety, Sankeshwar 049 and 2 in cotton
Bhima Safed, a white onion and Medika, anti-oxidant rich grape varieties developed
Updated 34 District Contingency Plans
A national geoportal developed for land cover and land use planning
The First ever nanocellulose pilot plant established in CIRCOT
Distributed 2823 units of 15 agricultural implements fabricated and distributed
4400 quintals of quality seeds and 33.7 lakhs of quality planting materials produced and distributed
22257 on-farm trials and FLDs of agro-technologies conducted
236241 farmers/ personnel trained