OdishaPlus Bureau

Odisha government has decided to roll out a new state Agriculture Policy – 2019

Odisha government has decided to roll out a new state Agriculture Policy – 2019.”The state government has initiated steps to bring out an updated and dynamic agricultural policy keeping in tune with the changing conditions of agriculture and agricultural market,” Chief Secretary A P Padhi said after chairing a high level meeting. Padhi has asked the Agriculture and Farmer Empowerment department to focus on enhancing farmers’ income through appropriate production and marketing strategies.

farmingHe urged the new policy should help create ecosystem for flourishing of farmer producer groups and mobilizing private investment in the sector. The departments have been asked to give their inputs for further development of the draft policy within two weeks.

Development Commissioner A K Tripathy said the policy should be oriented towards crop diversification, value addition and market linkages. Agriculture Production Commissioner GK Dhal suggested that calamity resilient seeds and agricultural practices be developed.

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Odisha has made unprecedented progress in agriculture and allied sector through concerted interventions of the government.Public investment in Agriculture has reached Rs 17,000 crore in 2018-19 and Odisha has taken ground-breaking steps like rolling out an exclusive budget for agriculture and formation of separate Agri-Cabinet.

According to Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment secretary Sourav Garg, the state has become a surplus producer of food grains by producing 117 lakh MT of food grain in 2016-17.

Odisha has also achieved fastest growth rate in the country in enhancing monthly income of the farmers between 2002-03 to 2015-16.During this period, the monthly average income of Odisha farmer has increased from Rs 1,062 to Rs 7,731 indicating a growth of 16.5 per cent against the national growth of 11.7 per cent.

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It may be recalled that   the Odisha Agriculture Policy was framed in 2013.In the meantime, new technologies and marketing conditions have also emerged. Taking all this into account, the new updated policy is being worked out. The draft policy is being readied through a wide process of consultation with experts, universities, civil society bodies and farmers’ groups. The policy will look into sector- wise interventions to overcome the difficulties faced in last five years and will make an effort to maximize the outcomes.