'Centre depriving at least 10 lakh farmers under PM Kisan'

kolkata: In a significant stride to regulate the use of chemical fertilisers for agricultural activities, the state government has come up with 257 organic villages across the state where organic fertilizers are being used, state Agriculture minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay said during the tabling of the Agriculture budget for 2022-23 at the state Assembly on Monday.

The minister slammed the Centre for depriving 10 lakh farmers in the state when it comes to extending benefits of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme. "Till date, data related to 59 lakh farmers have been uploaded in the requisite portal, but the Centre has cleared benefits for 38 lakh farmers in January this year. Though 10 lakh farmers have already received sanctions in connection with their application but they have been deprived till now, " he added.

Funds under PM Kisan Nidhi is disbursed in a gap of three to four months, thrice in a year.

The state government, however, is extending benefits to 78 lakh farmers under Krishak Bandhu scheme with Bengal being the only state where share-croppers also get Krishak Bandhu benefits. "86523 farmers who are physically challenged have been receiving pension. If a farmer is physically affected by a natural calamity, he gets pension after 55 years," Chattopadhyay said.

He maintained that organic villages have been set up in every district and 10600 farmers are reaping benefits.

"We are constantly trying to increase the number of organic villages," he added.

The minister stated that paddy seeds manufactured in Bengal are presently being exported to states like Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and even to Nepal. "We have made 462 metric tonnes of virus-free high-quality paddy seeds through tissue culture in the state," he added.

According to the minister, the state has produced 183 lakh metric tonnes of paddy in this Kharif season, which is an all-time record.

Taking part in the discussion of the Agriculture Budget Pradip Majumdar, honorary advisor to the Agriculture department and TMC MLA from Durgapur Purba said that though the state is leading in paddy production in the country, the Centre has not purchased even 1 lakh metric tonne paddy from the state farmers.

A sum of Rs 93108974000 (Nine thousand three hundred ten crore eighty-nine lakh seventy-four thousand) for the Agriculture department was passed in the Assembly.