With an allocation of Rs 24,829 crore in Odisha’s agriculture budget for 2023-24, around 70L farmer families will be benefitted, said Agriculture Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain on Tuesday.
While addressing a press conference, Minister Swain said the state government for the first time presented a special agriculture budget in 2013-14 fiscal. Then the budget allocation was Rs 7,162 crore. In 2022-23 fiscal, the amount of allocation was increased to Rs 21,166 crore.
“This reflects the state government’s commitment towards the farmers,” said Swain.
“Because of these steps, the state has now become a surplus state from a deficit one. Paddy production has increased by more than two times. In 2020-21, the state witnessed a record amount of 130.39 lakh MT crop production. Because of good performance, the state has been awarded with ‘Krishi Karman’ award for five times in a row,” he said.
“Not only has the paddy production increased but also the yield per hectare has increased as well. While the yield per hectare in 2000-01 was 10.41 quintals, it increased to 27.30 quintals in 2020-21. Similarly, pulses production has increased by 1.5 times. While the production of pulses in 2000-01 was 6.96 lakh MT, it increased to 10.43 lakh MT in 2020-21,” he added.
In a span of 20 years, the vegetable production has increased by around three times. The state is in first position in sweet potato production. Similarly, the state tops the list in straw mushroom production and second in brinjal and cabbage production, he informed.
“Under KALIA scheme, 41,08,000 small and marginal farmers and 18,69,000 landless farmers have benefitted since 2018-19 to till now. In the 2023-24 budget, an allocation of Rs1879 crore has been made for this,” he said.