Agriculture sector will have significant participation in Atmanirbhar M.P.
13 February 2021, Madhya Pradesh, IN: Chief Minister Mr. Shivraj Singh Chouhan has made many innovations in the interest of the farmers of the state to make agriculture profitable and to double the income of farmers. Agriculture sector will have a significant involvement in the creation of Atmanirbhar Madhya Pradesh. The government is making efforts to increase agricultural production, reduce cost of production, providing fair prices for agricultural produce and adequate compensation to farmer for crop loss in case of natural calamity or other situation.
With the support of the government, farmers of the state have set a record mainly in wheat production. Madhya Pradesh are pioneers in the country in procurement of wheat. Amending the Krishi Upaj Mandi Adhiniyam in the interest of farmers, provision of e-trading was made and the farmers were provided facility to sell crops through the procurement centre as well as through the authorized private procurement center and deal sheet arrangement of the market. An amount of more than Rs 33 thousand crores was transferred to the accounts of farmers for the procurement of wheat, paddy and other crops.
Farmers of Madhya Pradesh are getting the benefit of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, under which Rs 6 thousand are given to farmers every year. In this series, the Mukhya Mantri Kisan Kalyan Samman Nidhi Yojana was started and the government of Madhya Pradesh started giving Rs 4 thousand per year to farmers in two equal installments. In this way, farmers are now getting Kisan Samman Nidhi of a total of Rs 10 thousand per annum.
The state government provided relief to the farmers by depositing the pending premium of Pradhan Mantri Crop Insurance Scheme to provide relief to farmers for their crop loss due to natural calamity or under any other circumstances. Chief Minister Mr. Shivraj Singh Chouhan filled the pending premium of the insurance scheme as soon as he came to power and the affected farmers were provided crop insurance money. During the critical situation of lockdown, one crore 29 lakh tonnes of wheat was purchased from 16 lakh farmers and an amount of more than Rs 27 thousand crores was transferred to their accounts.
Relief was provided to the farmers by restarting the loan scheme at zero percent interest to the farmers. For this, an amount of Rs 800 crore was also made available to the co-operative banks, so that the co-operative banks can easily provide agricultural loans to the farmers.
In order to increase the income farmers, work was done on better management and irrigation projects. Availability of irrigation in maximum area in the state was ensured. By the year 2020, irrigation facilities were developed in an area of about 40 lakh 27 thousand hectares. The work of 19 major, 97 medium and 5344 minor irrigation schemes has been completed in the state. Besides, 27 major, 47 medium and 287 minor irrigation schemes are in progress. A target has been set to provide irrigation facility in 65 lakh hectare area in the state in the next 5 years. Under the Prime Minister’s Agricultural Irrigation Scheme, 24 thousand 364 ground-water structures were constructed in Mandla, Dindori, Shahdol, Umaria and Singrauli districts at a cost of Rs 1707 crores and 62 thousand 133 hectare agricultural land of marginal and small farmers was irrigated.
During the Corona period, 57 thousand 653 water-structures were built under various schemes of Panchayat and Rural Development. Among these water structures, 1007 stop dams, 4467 check dams, 19 thousand Kapil Dhara wells, 2588 public wells, 1667 percolation tanks, 14 thousand 907 beneficiary oriented farms, 2365 community farm ponds and 4393 new ponds were constructed under employment guarantee scheme. Besides, works related to 53 thousand 517 water structures were done, including renovation of 3115 Bawadis, ponds and community water structures and construction of community rainwater harvesting systems. Similarly, 2697 farm ponds, 726 ponds, 305 percolation ponds, 299 check dams, stop dams and 109 nullah bandhan works were carried out under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana at a cost of 237 crores. While all these water structures provided employment to the local people during the Corona period, with the increase in ground water level, farmers are also getting water for irrigation of their farms. The state government is also continuously increasing the irrigation budget for the last several years.
Recently, Chief Minister Mr. Shivraj Singh Chouhan has taken important decisions in the meeting of the Council of Ministers, adding new provisions in the revenue book circular. In these provisions, a provision for financial assistance has been made in case of natural calamity, fire and destruction of houses by wild animals. These new provisions will also benefit the farmers of the state. Farmers are being given electricity at flat rates for agricultural works, in which 22 lakh agricultural consumers have benefitted. Farmers were given a grant of Rs 14 thousand 244 crore on electricity connections for farming.
Madhya Pradesh is at the forefront of the Agricultural Infrastructure Development Fund in the country. Atmanirbhar Krishi Mission has been formed for infrastructure development. In the last 10 months, benefits of more than 83 thousand crore rupees have been given on various schemes for agricultural development and farmer welfare. Historical reforms have also been made in mandi rules in the interest of farmers. Market tax has been reduced from 1.50 percent to 0.50 percent. Farm Producer Organisations (FPOs) are being strengthened to reduce the cost of agriculture, increase production and provide right price to the farmers. One thousand new farm producer organisations will be formed in the coming years.
Taking important decision in the interest of the farmers, the minimum compensation amount for crop damage has been fixed at Rs. 5 thousand. The revenue book circular has also been amended in this regard.
Also Read: KVK Ropar created awareness on crop residue management
High quality fertiliser and seeds are being provided to the farmers of the state. Surplus storage of urea remained after providing adequate manure to the farmers this year. Taking strict action against the sellers of fake manure and seeds, their licenses were also suspended and revoked.
