Bhubaneswar: The state government Thursday decided to double the income of farmers in the next five years.
The decision, which was taken at the third meeting of the agriculture cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here, comes in the wake of a National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) report that Orissa is the only state in the country to have doubled the income of farmers in a span of 10 years.
The average monthly income of a farmer in 2003 was `1,000. This increased by 108 per cent in 2013, Chief Secretary AP Padhi said.
The states that follow Orissa are Haryana, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, he said.
In 2000, Orissa was a deficit state in terms of rice production. However, now Orissa is the third largest contributor of rice to the public distribution system in India, he said.
“The meeting discussed the steps that need to be taken to further double the income of the farmers in the next five years. To achieve the target, the government will make the irrigation network more intensive and expedite mega lift irrigation projects,” Padhi said.
The government has decided to set up 17 irrigation clusters in five years. Each would have 10-15 mega lift irrigation projects.
The cabinet has decided to increase water usage efficiency to ensure more agriculture productivity as Orissa is behind some states in this aspect.
The agriculture cabinet also decided to set up a state-level committee under the chairmanship of the development commissioner for monitoring the creation of irrigation potential and closing the gap between the potential created and utilised, on a monthly basis. Out of the target of energising 12,000 bore wells this year, 6,500 bore wells have been energised so far. Efforts are on to achieve the target in the next four to five months, the Chief Secretary said.
The government has ensured crop insurance coverage of more than `1,700 crore, benefiting more than 11 lakh drought affected farmers of the state. “The Centre has sanctioned its share of `800 crore and the state government has also released its share of `800 crore. Very soon we will start disbursing crop insurance to the affected farmers,” he said.
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