Govt to launch nationwide farm awareness drive from May 29: Shivraj Chouhan

With ensuing kharif sowing season, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday announced a pan-India 15-days campaign starting May 29, to create awareness among 1-1.5 crore farmers about modern technology and new seed varieties.

The campaign named 'Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan' is scheduled during the May 29-June 12 period and the target is to reach out to 1-1.5 crore farmers across 700 districts in the country.

The Centre in association with states will form 2,000 teams comprising farm scientists, officials and progressive farmers, among others. Each team will have three meetings every day at district level. The aim is to reach out to 10-12 lakh farmers every day. 

Addressing a National Conference on Agriculture for Kharif Campaign here, Chouhan stressed on improving agriculture extension services to boost productivity and production of all major crops.

He emphasized on making available new technologies and research work done in labs to farmers' fields within a fixed timeframe.

Chouhan said the centre and state governments will launch a large-scale awareness campaign from May 29 to communicate directly with farmers and educate them.

"Between May 29 and June 12, farm scientists and officials will be among farmers," the minister said.

Chouhan said the teams will create awareness about climate-resilient seed varieties, availability of fertilizers, monsoon forecast and benefits of existing government programmes.

He urged state agriculture ministers to lead this campaign in their respective states.

Chouhan said he will also write to State Chief Ministers to make this campaign successful.

The Minister said there is a huge potential for growth in the agriculture sector which needs to be realized through combined efforts of Centre and States.

He pointed out that crop productivity is less in India than global average and there is a need to enhance yield through adoption of modern technology and best agriculture practices.

There is a huge difference in crop yield among states also, he said and added that the first target should be to bridge this gap and then set goals for meeting global benchmarks.

He also spoke about protecting soil health and said the soil health cards issued by the government should be used for the right usage of fertilizers.

Chouhan highlighted the achievements made in the agriculture sector since 2014.

He said the government is focusing on increasing production, reducing input costs and ensuring remunerative prices to farmers through enhanced procurement at minimum support price (MSP).