BHUBANESWAR: As per its announced focus on the farm sector, the state government on Tuesday placed the agriculture budget for 2020-21 with an outlay of Rs 19,408 crore which is nearly three times of the outlay of Rs 7,000 crore in 2013-14.
Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari said Odisha is one of the few states in the country where income of the farmers has more than doubled during 2002-03 to 2012-13.
The State is poised to enhance it further, he said and added that SAMRUDHI, the agriculture policy for 2020, is focused on farmers’ well being through continuous and inclusive growth in their income in next five years.
Stating that so far 43 lakh farmers have benefited and Rs 5,115 crore has been transferred directly to the bank account of farmers, the Minister said a provision of Rs 3,195 crore has been made for the scheme in 2020-21.
Besides, an allocation of `40 crore has been proposed for promotion of organic farming in about 20,800 hectare under “Paramparagat Krishi Vikash Yojana”.
The Minister said a record allocation of Rs 150 crore has been made for agricultural research, education and infrastructure, which is five times more than the last year’s allocation.
Announcing that the Government intends to create additional irrigation potential of 1.84 lakh hectares during 2020-21, Pujari said Rs 1,811 crore has been allocated for completion of incomplete Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) projects to be implemented through the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY).
A provision of Rs 910 crore was also announced under the Water Sector Infrastructure Development Programme (WSIDP) for ongoing and new projects. Besides, an outlay of Rs 1,060 crore has been provided for flood control and drainage work.
The Miniser said Rs 540 crore has been proposed under Parvati Giri Mega Lift Irrigation Scheme with a target to complete 33 ongoing projects.
As a green initiative, the government is doing away with printing of budget documents through introduction of e-budget. The Government has reduced printing of about 75 lakh pages of paper which saved about 1000 large trees.