Emergency plan to be made for crops in case of scanty rainfall

Bhopal: In a meeting of the Agriculture Cabinet held here today at the Mantralaya chaired by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, it was decided that an emergency plan should be made for crops taking into account the scanty rainfall situation in the state. Also a scheme for irrigation from dams should be made keeping in mind the drinking water arrangement. Members of Agriculture Cabinet were present at the meeting.

Chief Minister Chouhan said at the meeting that a strategy should be made so that farmers get crop insurance scheme benefits. After September 15, the situation of rainfall in the state should be estimated and emergency plan for crops should be reviewed. Farmers should be informed about the crops that can be sown in such a situation.

It was told at the meeting that normal rainfall was recorded in 21 districts of the state, less than normal in 29 districts and above normal rainfall was recorded in one district. Good rainfall is expected by coming September 12. In Kharif, this year, the area of Urad has increased by 6.5 lakh hectare in state whereas the area of Paddy has decreased by 2.5 lakh hectare and soyabean by 4 lakh hectare. This time sowing has been done in 130 lakh 8 thousand hectare area this kharif season which is 6 lakh hectare more than last year. There is a rise in the consumption of fertiliser by 15 percent which has increased the use of DAP by 37 percent. Water level is being monitored in big dams in the state.

Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana

Information about Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana was given during the meeting. This scheme has been launched farmers to ensure minimum support price for krishi upaj and to secure farmers from the fall in Mandi rates. This scheme will be launched in the form of pilot scheme for Kharif 2017. For this the farmers will be registered in the Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana portal from September 1 to 30. Registrations will be done in 3000 primary agriculture cooperative institutes that purchase paddy and wheat. The benefit of the scheme can be derived by the farmers on crops notified by the state government. The crops included in the scheme are soyabean, groundnut, sesame, ramtil, corn, moong, urad and tuar. A unique ID will be provided to the farmers after registration in the scheme. The counting of ideal selling price will be the average of model mandi prices of Madhya Pradesh and two states. The difference amount in the Bhavantar Bhugtan Scheme will be deposited in the farmers’ accounts through ‘Pratyaksh Labh Antaran’.

Finance Minister Jayant Malaiya, Forest Minister Dr. Gaurishankar Shejwar, Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Gopal Bhargav, Water Resources and Public Relations Minister Dr. Narottam Mishra, Agriculture Minister Gaurishankar Bisen, School Education Minister Vijay Shah, Energy Minister Paras Jain, Revenue Minister Umashankar Gupta, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Development Minister Antar Singh Arya and health Minister Rustam Singh, Chief Secretary B.P. Singh and senior officials from concerned departments were present during the meeting.-WTN