Agriculture Policy

Agro-Processing

Setting up of agro-processing units in the producing areas to reduce wastage, especially of horticulture produce, increase value addition and creation of off-farm employment in rural areas will be encouraged. Collaboration between the producer co-operatives and the corporate sector will be encouraged to promote agro-processing industry. An inter-active coupling between technology, economy, environment and society will be promoted for speedy development of food and agro processing industries and build a substantial base for production of value added agro-products for domestic and export markets with a strong emphasis on food safety and quality.

Agricultural Credit

(i) Expansion of the Cooperative Credit Network

The network of the Primary Cooperative Credit Societies in the tribal areas whose growth has remained restricted due to the LAMPS approach will be expanded, making agricultural credit more accessible for the tribal population and bringing the grass roots level Cooperative Credit Societies nearer to the farmers in the tribal areas taking into account the number of GPs in the existing LAMPS; population of different GPs; the number of agricultural households in the different Blocks / LAMPS and the situation of connectivity.

The Kisan Credit Card (KCC) Scheme aims at providing adequate and timely credit support from the banking system to farmers for their agricultural operations in a flexible, hassle-free and cost-effective manner. The farmers use these Cards for the purchase of agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides etc. and also to draw cash for their production needs. 7 lakh agricultural families in the State having no access to institutional credit will be brought under the fold of co-operative credit by providing Kisan Credit Cards to eligible farmers in two years covering 3.5 lakh families per year. The Cooperative Societies are being revived in order to make credit available to the farmers at the village level.

(ii) Agricultural Credit at Concessional Interest Rates

Government of Odisha have provided agricultural credit to the farmers at a cheap rate of 7% interest through the Cooperative Banks. The State Government is providing interest subvention support to the Cooperative Banks to enable them to finance crop loans to the farmers of the State at 7% interest rate.

Risk Management

The State Government have been implementing the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) with effect from Rabi 1999-2000 crop season with the scope of compulsory coverage of loanee farmers and optional coverage of non-loanee farmers. Taking into account the availability of data on production in respect of different crops and provisions / guidelines of the Scheme, major crops like paddy, groundnut, maize, niger, redgram (arhar) and cotton during the Kharif and the crops like paddy, groundnut, mustard and potato during the Rabi crop season are covered under the NAIS. The farmers under the Scheme are indemnified against their yield loss in the even of natural calamities like drought, flood and cyclone etc. thereby stabilizing farm income and providing a cushion to the farmers in the shape of indemnity claims against any unforeseen disasters.

• Disaster preparedness programmes and contingent planning will be made for the disaster prone areas with emphasis on the vulnerability index of the farming community.
• In partnership with IMD, location specific weather forecast and Agro-meteorological Advisory Service (AAS) will be provided to the farmers as per different climatic conditions and cropping patterns.
• The emerging issue of impact of climate change on agriculture would be addressed by taking proactive measures and developing effective strategies for each agro-climatic zone to reduce the vulnerability to climate change.