Agri Cabinet: Over 8 Lakh Farmers Get Relief From CM’s COVID-19 Package, No Shortage of Fertilizers

Bhubaneswar: The sixth meeting of the Agriculture Cabinet Committee chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today discussed the details of the progress made in implementation of the ‘CM Package’ for COVID-19. Briefing media, Agriculture Secretary Sourabh Garg said the Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment Department and Fisheries and Animal Resources Development Department have rolled out many livelihood interventions to the tune of Rs 373.95 Crore. As many as 24,99,850 farmers of the state are likely to get benefitted out of this livelihood intervention. Till now, the package has benefitted 8,15,793 farmers, he added.

The meeting also discussed about the Kharif 2020 preparedness in detail. The programme for Kharif – 2020 was made for 61.61 lakh hectares and at present 55.52 lakh hectares have been covered. The government is keeping a close eye and monitoring the crop and pest situation through e-Pest Surveillance upto Gram Panchayat level, Garg added.

Meanwhile, the Government has also set up the dedicated helpline number – 15333 to provide technical support to the farmers of the state.

Farm credit amounting to Rs 9964.47 crore have been disbursed by various financial institutions benefitting 21 lakh farmers. So far 14.08 lakh farmers have been enrolled for crop insurance coverage as per the Crop Contingent plan, Garg added.

Throwing light on the flagship KALIA scheme, Garg said, at present, 55,29,680 number of beneficiaries are eligible for getting KALIA assistance.