Farmers owning land up to 5 Ha eligible for PoCRA: Agri Minister
| Date :19-Sep-2019 |
Dr Anil Bonde, Agriculture Minister, addressing the press conference in city on Wednesday.
Staff Reporter :
‘Krishi Mitra’ and ‘Krishi Tai’ to be appointed for counselling of farmers
Maharashtra Government has made certain changes in the norms of Project on Climate Resilient Agriculture (PoCRA) named after ‘Bharat Ratna’ Nanaji Deshmukh. As a result, the farmers owning land up to five hectares also will be eligible for the project benefits. Previously, only the marginal and low land holding farmers were eligible for it. Dr Anil Bonde, Agriculture Minister, made the announcement in this regard in the city on Wednesday. Addressing a press conference at Ravi Bhavan here, Dr Bonde said that Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister, had approved the changes in PoCRA. The project is being implemented in Maharashtra with the aid of the World Bank.
As many as 5,142 villages of the State including 2,054 villages from Vidarbha region have been chosen for implementation of the ambitious project. These include 932 villages from saline belt of Purna river basin spread over Akola, Jalgaon, Buldana, and Amravati districts. PoCRA is known as ‘Nanaji Deshmukh Krishi Sanjeevani Prakalp’.
The basic idea behind the project is to equip farmers to face the vagaraies of nature. Inequitable distribution of rainfall, longer dry spells in monsoon, unseasonal rains, hailstorms and such unexpected events have been affecting the agricultural output for the past few years. Maharashtra has been witnessing scarcity or drought situations more frequently in the past few years. This is affecting the rate of agricultural growth and causing distress among farmers leading to their suicides. The cost of PoCRA is Rs 4,000 crore and it covers villages in 15 districts of Maharashtra, Dr Bonde said. As per the changes made recently, apart from the marginal and low land holding farmers, the farmers owning land up to 5 hectares also will be eligible for benefits of the project, said the Agriculture Minister.
Also, the financial aid extended to eligible marginal and low land holding farmers will be raised from 50 per cent to 75 per cent. Those holding up to 5 hectares of land will get 65 per cent financial aid. The farmer producers’ group will get aid up to 60 per cent for farm mechanisation, said the Agriculture Minister. Dr Bonde told mediapersons that ‘Krishi Mitra’ and ‘Krishi Tai’ volunteers would be appointed for counselling of farmers in the State. In all, 5,000 such volunteers will be appointed and trained. Already, 300 trainers have been trained at Amravati and they will train the volunteers by visiting various villages. The volunteers will get honorarium of Rs 1,200/- per month. They will counsel the farmers about multi-cropping, animal husbandry, poultry farming, crop selection in accordance with climate change etc. Also, they will counsel the distressed farmers by adopting methods of Art of Living Foundation.