Centre to reach 15 mn farmers via seed campaign by June 12: Chouhan

15-day national campaign called 'Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan' to start on May 19

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday announced a 15-day pan-India campaign — starting on May 29 and culminating on June 12 — to create awareness among 10-15 million farmers across 700 districts on modern technology and new seed varieties.

 

As part of the campaign named “Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan”, around 2,000 teams comprising farm scientists, state officials, and progressive farmers among others, will fan out across the country connecting with farmers.

 

Each of the 2,000 teams will have three meetings every day at district level. The aim is to reach out to 1-1.2 million farmers every day. Around 3,100 agriculture scientists have been trained as master trainers, who will impart training to farmers on new practices.

 

Addressing the “National Conference on Agriculture for Kharif Campaign” here, Chouhan stressed the need for improving agriculture extension services to boost productivity and production of all major crops. Chouhan said he will also write to all chief ministers to make this campaign a success. 

 

Meanwhile, as part of the campaign, farmers will be given a feedback form where they will highlight their experiences and lessons learnt. The mega campaign will be monitored nationally through a dedicated cell.

 

Sources said a special focus of the campaign, particularly in paddy-growing areas, will be on direct-seed rice and also on other climate-resistant varieties. Special labs, where farmers can come and get their soils tested, will also move with the dedicated teams, they added.

 

Direct-seeding likely to be more scientific

 

The Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) plans to convert 1 million hectares where rice is grown through the direct-seeded method but in a traditional manner into more scientific methods, which would boost overall rice production by 5 million tonnes (mt). The plan is part of the efforts to lower paddy acreage by 5 million hectares but boost production by 10 mt over the next few years. The plan was detailed by ICAR Director General ML Jat at the national conference on Thursday.

Foodgrain output target at 354 mt for 2025-26 crop season  India has targeted to produce 354 million tonnes (mt) of foodgrain in the 2025-26 crop season that will start from June. The target is almost 4 per cent higher than the actual production of the 2024-25 season. In this, rice production is projected at 147 mt while wheat output is targeted at 117 mt in 2025-26. Pulses production is targeted at 26.4 mt and oilseeds output at 44.7 mt.

 

Already, the country's foodgrain production has reached 330.92 million tonnes in the kharif and rabi seasons of the current 2024-25 crop year. The production estimates for summer (zaid) sowing are yet to be released.

 

The foodgrain production in the summer season (zaid), sown between February and June which is between rabi harvest and kharif sowing season, stood at 16.5 million tonnes in 2023-24.