?Special package for poultries on anvil?

?A SPECIAL package finalised by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would be provided to the poultry industry affected by the bird flu scare,? said Agriculture Production Commissioner Iqbal Ahmed while chairing a divisional level meeting of the primary sector at Indore Collector office today.

“A SPECIAL package finalised by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would be provided to the poultry industry affected by the bird flu scare,” said Agriculture Production Commissioner Iqbal Ahmed while chairing a divisional level meeting of the primary sector at Indore Collector office today.

HT Image

Ahmed said that though bird flu outbreak had occurred in only one district of the State the pandemonium created led to heavy revenue loss for the industry, which would be provided necessary support so that families eking out a livelihood from poultry and related industry would not loose their source of daily bread and butter.

Though agriculture production for Rabi season was estimated to be around 68 lakh metric tones, a little less than the target of 70 lakh metric tonnes, due to less rainfall the surplus and buffer stock would remain unaffected.

The State despite its various natural handicaps was doing very well as far as seed production was concerned with seeds being produced three times more than the requirement. In the Malwa region Indore and Ujjain districts were doing extremely well and accounted for almost half the seed production from this region.

The actual figures were still under compilation and would be released by May end. Various departments presented their plans and proposals for the forthcoming Kharif crop.

Farmers irrespective of their category if willing to excavate land would be provided Government assistance in the form of subsidy as part of the Jalabhishek scheme launched recently by the State Government.

Farmers having a land holding of 10 acre and above would be given 25 per cent subsidy, those having land between 5 to 10 acre would be given 33 per cent subsidy and those having less than five acre land holding would be provided 50 per cent subsidy. The farmers would not only be able to utilise the run off water by storing it in these water bodies but could also breed fish for commercial purpose thus diversifying their means of income.

A scheme for extending credit limit for purchase of fertiliser through societies that have procured the same from Government distribution agency MARKFED would be up to June 1 and till that date farmers registered with the societies irrespective of category would not be charged any interest for the same. Multi-tiered checking would be adopted as part of a campaign to ensure that quality manure and seeds reach the farmers.

Agriculture Secretary RK Swai said that a target of sowing in 21-lakh hectare has been fixed for this Kharif season. The credit cooperative societies were instructed to improve their system of recovering loans so that they had enough cash to meet the requirements of the agriculture sector.

Agriculture Director RS Manral said that a drive for checking the productivity and condition of the soil had been started and a quality control week would be organised from May 15 to June 15.

The agriculture-engineering department explained the working of a new machine ‘aero blaster’ used in spraying pesticides. A proposal; of building bulk milk coolers was given and satisfaction was expressed over the Indore Dugdh Vikas Sangh making a profit of Rs 1 crore in the last fiscal.

The Fisheries Department informed that two speedboats had been purchased and would be brought soon for monitoring the large Indira Sagar reservoir. The division had exceeded the target fixed for it by the Fisheries Department and water bodies having less water were proposed to be used for seed cultivation. The national horticulture mission had started in the division and production of gooseberries ‘aonla’ had gone up many folds.

Divisional Commissioner Ashok Das, Horticulture Secretary JN Kansotiya, MARKFED Managing Director MA Khan, Animal Husbandry Commissioner Dr Rajesh Rajora and Dairy Federation Managing Director KC Gupta were present in the meeting. Indore Collector Vivek Aggarwal, Khandwa Collector NK Shrivastav, Khargone Collector SK Pal, Barwani Collector Arun Tiwari, Burhanpur Collector Suraj Damor, CEOS of Zillah Panchayats and other concerned officers from the division also attended the meeting.