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Following is an excerpt from a report in expressbuzz.com.

… A record number of 2,170 tractors were sold under farm subsidy scheme in the last financial year as against Government target of 1,500. Never before in the agriculture history of the State such a large number of tractors were sold in spite of Government subsidy. However, this was possible due to significant increase in the rate of subsidy, said Director of Agriculture and Food Production Arabinda Padhee.

Prior to the last kharif, the subsidy on the purchase of tractor was limited to Rs 45,000. The subsidy amount was doubled last year to Rs 90,000 and this is definitely the major motivating factor for the farmers.

Similarly, the sale of power tiller has gone up. Under farm subsidy, 7,762 power tillers were sold in the last fiscal as against a target of 5,529. The other mechanised implements sold last year include 292 reapers, 45 self-propelled rice transplanters, 65 tractor drawn rotavators, 831 power thrashers and 396 tractor drawn axial flow power thrashers.

… Earlier, farmers were not very keen on combine harvester because of its prohibitive cost. Cost of a combine harvester ranges from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 16 lakh. However, 49 combined harvesters were sold last year because of enhanced subsidy. Subsidy on a combined harvester is Rs 3 lakh for base model and Rs 4 lakh for top-end model, Padhee said.

Mechanisation of various agricultural operations has made significant impact on the productivity and cost of cultivation. While the reduction of cost varies from 16 to 26 per cent, productivity has gone up from 7 to 25 per cent, he said adding, this also reduced drudgery to a great extent.

The machineries have also provided additional income to its owners through custom hiring. Apart from self-employment, these machineries are also generating direct and indirect employment for the local youth, he said.

www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/wp-content/uploads/image/20080313a_014101003 ag machines.jpg

Following is an excerpt from a report in the New Indian Express.

The State Government will seek Central assistance of Rs 45 crore under the Rastriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) for the current fiscal.

The Centre has introduced the new additional Central assistance scheme to incentivise the State which exceed plan expenditure consecutively in the last three years.

… The committee approved the proposals of the Agriculture Department, which has sought an assistance of Rs 10.10 crore for managing acid soil to boost agriculture production, Rs 8.8 crore for popularisation of farm mechanisation and Rs 2.52 crore for systematic rice intensification in areas having low rice production.

Under the rice intensification programme, field demonstration will be taken up where farmers will be educated on how to get higher yield with less use of seeds, water and fertilisers, official sources said.

The department has asked an assistance of Rs 2 crore for strengthening soil testing service, Rs 1.06 crore for bio-fertiliser application for pulses and oilseeds and Rs 55.55 lakh for promotion of organic farming through vermi hatchery and blue green algae.

It has also proposed to set up seed processing plant in Gajapati, Kendrapara and Jharsuguda districts and modernise the agriculture information wing in the city and at Sambalpur with an investment of Rs 1.80 crore and Rs 1.18 crore respectively.

Since the Centre will provide the additional assistance in two streams, the total estimate for 12 projects in the first stream is Rs 28.83 crore. Seventy-five percent of the additional Central assistance is for programme implementation while the remaining 25 percent is to bridge resource gap in the State plan.

The Government will ask Rs 15.94-crore Central assistance under the stream-II out of which Rs 4 crore will be for strengthening its implement factory at Satyanagar, Rs 2.45 crore for infrastructure development and strengthening the training centres (gram sevak kendras), Rs 7 crore for construction of 17 seed storage godowns and Rs 2 crore for establishment of agro-service centres at gram panchayat level.

PRESS RELEASE 29.05.2007 (CM ATTENDS NDC MEETING)

GOVERNMENT OF ORISSA

PRESS RELEASE

New Delhi

May 29, 2007

NAVEEN PATNAIK DEMANDS HIGHER ALLOCATION FOR ORISSA

TO CORRECT THE NEGLECT OF THE CENTRE

Speaking at the 53rd meeting of the National Development Council in their special session on Food and Agriculture, the Chief Minister, Shri Naveen Patnaik today demanded that the historical neglect for Eastern States like Orissa should be corrected during the 11th Plan.The advanced States of the country have had the benefit of huge public investment in irrigation and other related infrastructure in the past and the Eastern States have lost out in this race, he said. He pointed out that the various Working Groups on Agriculture have observed that the Eastern region has the maximum potential for agricultural growth during the 11th Five Year Plan and therefore region specific programmes based on the specific requirements of the different agro-climatic zones should be drawn up instead of uniform nation-wide schemes of one-size-fit-all variety.

Since irrigation is the key in agricultural growth, he suggested that Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) should have a large outlay and include not only major and medium irrigation projects but should also be extended to minor and lift irrigation projects.

For those lands which cannot be provided with assured irrigation, he suggested that a massive programme should be drawn up to cover rainfed areas on a Mission mode. He demanded that adequate funding support be provided by Government of India to the Watershed Mission of Orissa which has been set up by his Government to tackle the problems of rainfed agriculture.

He also suggested that seed production should be decentralized and seed villages encouraged so that adequate quantities of certified seeds are available to the farmers at affordable rates. He pointed out that nearly 70% of the cultivable land of Orissa is acidic in nature and transport subsidy should be provided by Government of India for gypsum and other inputs used for soil amendment.

Certain districts of Orissa such as Phulbani and Koraput have excellent potential for production of organic fruits, vegetables and spices. Since these districts are in the tribal sub-plan area, the resource-poor farmers cannot afford the high cost involved in certification of organic products. He suggested that the cost of such certification may be borne by the Government. He made a strong plea for a comprehensive crop insurance policy for cotton farmers of the State mainly in the Eastern and Southern parts of the State.

The CM also stated that farm mechanization and micro-irrigation systems are necessary in order to improve productivity of the land and timely agricultural operations. Specific schemes should be drawn up to promote a large number of cold storages in private sector with attractive incentives in the form of capital investment subsidy. Cold chain and post harvest management interventions should be put in place in order to support this sector, he added.