To boost agriculture yield: State to procure machines from abroad

kolkata: After Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar praised West Bengal for their high productivity in the agricultural sector by using various modern techniques, the state government has decided to procure a few digital machines from abroad to increase more productivity.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Tomar said during the last three years (2019-2021), a total of 84 field crop varieties were developed and released for Bengal.

"These include 31 varieties of cereals; 23 of oilseeds; 14 of pulses; 9 of fiber; 4 of forages and 3 of sugarcane. The productivity of rice, maize, foodgrains and pulses registered an increase of 1.2 per cent, 8.1 per cent, 2.3 per cent and 19.34 per cent between the period 2018-19 and 2020-21,"

Senior officials of the state government said apart from framing schemes that are helpful for the farmers, the state government has decided to give loans to the farmers for procuring high-end machines that will help them to harvest more produce. As a result, domestic agricultural production has increased.

A senior official of the state Agriculture department said "Apart from direct purchase from the farmers, the state government is also mulling to provide loans to the farmers for purchasing the digital machines that will be procured from abroad. This will help them to increase their production and consequently they can sell more agricultural produce in the open market."

According to Tomar ,agricultural research institutes/ centres in Bengal have undertaken research for the development in various areas like field crops, disease diagnosis and development of vaccines for animals, poultry and fisheries sectors, development of ergonomically improved tools and equipment and women-friendly tools and machineries, etc.