Department wise review: CM said- Farmers should get quality fertilizers and seeds on time, keep a constant watch on the status of storage and distribution.

Raipur. Chief Minister Vishnu Dev Sai started a series of department wise review meetings today to accelerate the pace of development in the state. The meetings started with the review of the Agriculture and Horticulture Department related to the food producers. Agriculture Development, Farmer Welfare and Biotechnology Minister Shri Ramvichar Netam was also present in the meeting.

Chief Minister Vishnu Dev Sai has been associated with farming for a long time. He has done farming at the grassroots level and has also fed his family with it. A glimpse of his vast experience in farming was clearly seen in the instructions given in the review meeting. Sharing his farming experience, the Chief Minister said that once before when he had demanded DAP fertilizer, he got another fertilizer, there was DAP marking on the fertilizer bag, but there was another fertilizer in the bag, ensure that this does not happen with our farmer brothers.

The Chief Minister said in the meeting that our top priority is the betterment of farming. Therefore, to provide facilities to farmers in farming, adequate availability of fertilizers and seeds should be ensured. The status of storage and distribution should be constantly monitored. At the time of distribution of fertilizers and seeds to farmers, it should be specially taken care that farmers get fertilizers and seeds as per their demand.

Chief Minister Shri Sai directed the officials to find aromatic and fine rice varieties in the state and make farmers of the entire state aware for their production for more income of farmers. He said that there are about 200 varieties of aromatic rice in Chhattisgarh. There is a good demand for them in the market. These varieties can also be exported abroad. This will increase their income.

While giving instructions to promote horticultural crops, he said that mango, litchi, jackfruit are produced on a large scale in Jashpur district. Tea production has also started. Their processing unit should also be established.

Chief Minister Shri Sai said that the Kharif season has arrived. Monsoon is also expected to arrive earlier this year. Farming work will start at a fast pace as soon as monsoon arrives. Officials should complete all the necessary preparations for the Kharif season. He said that food seeds should be distributed to farmers as per demand. Also, distribution should be monitored regularly. Chief Minister Shri Sai also stressed on connecting farmers with organic farming, modern farming and availability of agricultural equipment for farmers. He said that agricultural equipment like threshers and harvesters should be made available by forming clusters.

Chief Minister Shri Sai laid special emphasis on the use of technology in farming. Officials gave information about the work done in this regard. He said that the work of e-girdawari will start soon in three districts of Chhattisgarh – Mahasamund, Dhamtari and Kabirdham. Work is being done rapidly for this. Regarding e-girdawari under the Agri Stack program in the state, it was told that a digital data base of farmers and land maps will be prepared in it. Registry of farmers and geo referencing of maps will be done. With this, the work of GIS digital crop survey will be done through mobile app. This will make the work of Girdawari easier and its data will also be available immediately for the implementation of schemes. This program has been started as a pilot project in three districts of Chhattisgarh, Mahasamund, Dhamtari and Kabirdham.

While reviewing the progress of the Horticulture Department, Chief Minister Shri Sai said that farmers should be made aware about horticultural crops. He said that keeping in mind the demand for flowers, flower cultivation should be promoted in the state. He asked to prepare a project at the state level to promote the cultivation of soybean, apple, palm oil, tea. He said that while choosing the crop, take a decision based on the climate of the area.

In the meeting, it was informed that a ‘Centre for Excellence’ will be established to promote horticultural crops. The Chief Minister directed for extensive publicity with the aim of making more and more farmers aware about the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. Similarly, structures are built to stop water to promote watershed development through Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana and livelihood based activities are promoted. More work should be done on this. Mr. Sai directed to expedite the implementation of the Chirag project run with the assistance of the World Bank in tribal dominated districts. In this scheme, works like socio-economic empowerment of community and families, improvement in the dietary nutrition level of the family, land and water conservation etc. are done.

In the meeting, the officials informed that all the necessary preparations for Kharif season 2024 have been done by the department. There is adequate availability of fertilizers and seeds in the state. Fertilizer seeds are being stored as per the demand of the farmers. For Kharif season 2024, 431 lakh tonnes have been stored as per the demand of 544 lakh tonnes of seeds by the farmers. At the same time, 261 lakh tonnes of seeds have been distributed to the farmers. Whereas last year, as of today, 402 lakh tonnes of seeds were stored and 165 lakh tonnes of seeds were distributed.