Special Kharif strategy for 2021 season

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare recently formulated a special Kharif Strategy. This strategy is to be implemented in the Kharif season 2021.

About the strategy

• A detailed plan to expand the area of cultivation and eventually increase the productivity of Moong, Tur, and Urad has been formulated.
• The strategy will use high-yielding variety of seeds that are available with Central Seed Agencies.
• Under the strategy, the GoI has proposed to distribute 20, 27, 318 seed mini kits in 2021-22. This is ten times more than that distributed in 2020-21. It is estimated that the total cost of these kits will be Rs 82.01 crores. The entire cost is to be borne by the Central Government.
• The area under intercropping is to be increased.
• The strategy is to cover 4.05 lakh hectares of land.

Intercropping

• The tur intercropping is to be covered in eleven states. They are Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.
• Moong intercropping is to be covered in nine states. They are Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana.
• The Urad intercropping is to be covered in six states. They are Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Implementation of the Strategy

• A massive outreach programme with the concerned districts where the programme is launched is to be held through webinars.
• The District Agriculture Offices will organise district level training programmes during crop season
• The Krishi Vigyan Kendras and Agricultural Technology Application Research Institutes are to be roped in for effective implementation of the programme.

Background

• According to the Second Advance Estimates, the pulses production in the country has increased from 14.76 million tonnes in 2007-08 to 24.42 million tonnes in 2020-21. This is 65% increase.
• Though several measures were taken to increase the agricultural production, the most significant input to increase production has been the focus on providing high quality seeds to the farmers.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2021