BHUBANESWAR: Deputy chief minister Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo on Tuesday called upon officials of the Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment department to rise to the occasion and deliver the promises made by the BJP to the farmers.
Taking a review of the department at Krushi Bhavan, Singh Deo said people are moving away from agriculture as farming activities are becoming less remunerative. It is the responsibility of the department to encourage the new generation and households to take up agriculture and allied activities for earning a decent livelihood, he said.
“We need to strive to promote and involve each and every household in agriculture activities. People are moving away from it and we need to enable them to learn and earn their livelihood,” he said.
Principal secretary Arabinda Padhee briefed the minister about the activities of the department and innovative measures undertaken for better delivery of government programmes to the farmers. He said Odisha Millet Mission is one of the success stories of the department which received national and international acclaims.
Director Prem Chandra Chaudhary apprised the deputy CM about different schemes and their progress. Elaborating on the achievement of digital crop survey in its pilot phase during kharif-2023, Chaudhary said the survey will be conducted in all the 30 districts in kharif-2024 based on the learning derived from pilot phase. He said plans are afoot to develop a mobile application and web portal to intensify digital crop survey.
Singh Deo unveiled a booklet on knowledge sharing for effective administration (K-SEA).