Govt introduces Bangla Krishi Sech Yojana to help small & marginal farmers

Kolkata: The state government has introduced the Bangla Krishi Sech Yojana to extend support to farmers in setting up micro irrigation facilities that will ensure cultivation using less amount of water.

The project will be immensely helpful to small and marginal farmers, mainly in the Jangalmahal area. The state cabinet has given approval to the project on Wednesday.

It may be mentioned that there are some places in districts including Purulia and Bankura, which receive scanty rainfall and the technology that will ensure cultivation of crops, mainly fruits and vegetables, using less water, will be of great help to the farmers.

The state Agriculture department had taken an initiative and identified that two artificial processes – drip irrigation and sprinkle irrigation – will help in cultivation on more acres of land by using less quantity of water.

Necessary trials and tests proved both the processes to be useful in ensuring cultivation with less water. Subsequently, a proposal was given to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in this connection and the cabinet has given its nod for the same on Wednesday.

However, it was found that it would not be possible for the small and marginal farmers to bear the cost of the drip irrigation and sprinkle irrigation mechanisms, which cost around Rs 70,000 and Rs 20,000 respectively, per acre of land.

So, the state government has allotted around Rs 35 crore for the project, thanks to which farmers are going to get the facilities completely free of cost.

Since it is a continuous process, the amount would go up later with the success of the project.

It has been learnt that experts will be engaged to support the farmers to carry out the project. The experts will develop the mechanisms for individual farmers and at the same time, they will also provide necessary support to farmers to become familiarised with the same.

The state government will make the payment to the experts only after receiving a feedback from the farmers and proper scrutiny of the same.