Officers should gain the trust of farmers & make them organizationally strong Badal

Ranchi: Agriculture Minister Badal has asked officials that they should have a commitment towards the farmers. Addressing all the District Agriculture Officers and District Cooperative Officers of the state in the State Level Kharif cum Millets Workshop 2023 organized on the occasion of International Millets Year 2023 he said that to solve the problems of the farmers they should work in coordination with the concerned department. If they do this, then the trust of the farmers will increase on them he said adding that it is not just their job to allocate funds and spend them but there is a need to look closely at the problems of the farmers. 

Badal said that all the officials need to learn from such districts in which schemes have been implemented in an excellent manner. He said that the department is providing seeds at subsidized rates to the farmers of the state but there is a need to work on why we are lagging behind in empowering the farmers financially.

Statistics say that 80 percent of the people of the state are dependent on agriculture, but have we been able to benefit 80 percent of the farmers with all our schemes he asked. He said that if the farmers do not get the benefits of all the schemes at different levels, then the officials should improve their working style. 

Agriculture Minister said that the share of agriculture in the state’s GDP is 14 percent, which he wants to take up to 20 percent. Institutions like Birsa Agricultural University are our allies in this, but we have not yet been able to assess what work we need to do for nonirrigated land. Irrigation can be done with the water of check dams, mines. We can move forward by making big water reservoirs, but for that the officials will have to plan and work and the assured irrigation area will have to be increased.

Badal said that for the welfare of the farmers, we had conceptualized the Chamber of Farmers, in which new people were to sit on the posts of President, Secretary and Treasurer and there was talk of making officers its members, but so far nothing has been done on the basis of the concept. He said that big changes can be made in the field of agriculture by organizing the farmers at the block level, so all the officials should make the farmers organizationally strong.

From 2019 till now, the department has given about Rs 4500 crore for the welfare of farmers, which is a record till now. At the same time, the loan of 5 lakh farmers was waived, as well as 9.38 lakh farmers were also given the benefit of the outstanding insurance from the previous government. Rs 3500 per acre per farmer was given under Chief Minister Drought Relief. Even after getting the benefits of so many schemes, if the farmer is not aware of the works of the government, then believe that the farmers are organizationally weak today they need to be strengthened. 

The officers should use the DMFT fund and prepare schemes and work for the welfare of the farmers. Secretary, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Cooperative Department Abu Bakar Siddiqui said that both Kharif and Rabi crops are very important, but Kharif is very important. Kharif crops are grown on about 18 lakh hectares of land in the state, most of which is rain-fed.

The officials need to be more active in the Kharif season, because Kharif is the basis of Jharkhand’s life he said that technology and methods are changing and the weather is also changing continuously so they need to be more alert. He said that the department is giving everything from seeds to fertilizers, equipment, loans, KCC to the farmers, so the officers will also have to go ahead and implement them.

This type of workshop should also be held at the district level, in which even the smallest units of the Agriculture Department should be included, along with progressive farmers should also be included. According to the need of the farmers, connect them with the schemes.

We have many welfare funds for agricultural development through which agricultural schemes can be implemented. Officers should make plans, but remember that the welfare of the farmer is the aim of the department and the welfare of the state and the country will come from the farmer.