Bhubaneswar: Stating that agriculture is one of the priorities of the state government, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Saturday said his government is working in a direction to make agriculture a profitable occupation.
Addressing the valedictory session of Pani Panchayat Fortnight on the Orissa University of Agriculture Technology (OUAT) premises, Patnaik said, “In the previous budget, the state government has increased the outlay for farm sector by Rs 100 crore and water resources budget by Rs 500 crore. Besides, the state has also introduced a special budget for agriculture.”
The state government has decided to make special allocation for pani panchayat in the 2016-17 budget, he added.
“Pani panchayat is a very important scheme for empowerment of our farmers. Pani panchayat, the panchayat for our farmers, has been working successfully. We will further strengthen it through expansion of activities and capacity building of our farmers,” the CM said.
Stating that pani panchayat is a popular scheme for the farmers of the state, the CM said since the launch of the scheme in 2002, there has been a sea change in water management in the state. The scheme has not only played a pivotal role in empowerment of farmers, productivity had also got a boost substantially due to crop diversification as the farmers have been able to grow several kinds of crops due to round-the-clock availability of water.
The state government had entrusted the responsibility of managing the minor irrigation systems on the farmers which will continue in the coming days, he said.
Management of micro irrigation projects would be bestowed upon the pani panchayats too, he added.
Pani Panchayat Fortnight, which began January 16, was organised by water resources department at OUAT here.