ROURKELA: Sundargarh is among the four districts of Odisha which will be developed as aspirational agriculture districts over a period of six years under the Pradhan Mantri Dhan Dhaanya Krishi Yojana (PMDDKY).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to launch the PMDDKY and Mission for Atmanirbharta in Pulses from Delhi on Saturday following which the key agriculture scheme will be implemented in Sundargarh.
On July 16, the union cabinet approved development of 100 aspirational agriculture districts of India including four from Odisha - Sundargarh, Kandhamal, Malkangiri and Nuapada.
Through an office memorandum on October 3, the department of Personnel & Training appointed central nodal officers (CNOs) for reviewing and monitoring implementation of the scheme in the 100 selected districts. Accordingly, joint secretary of the Agriculture department Purna Chandra Kishan was appointed as the CNO for Sundargarh.
Chief district agriculture officer (CDAO) LB Mallick said inclusion of Sundargarh as an aspirational agriculture district under the PMDDKY is a welcome development. It would significantly boost agriculture and allied sectors in Sundargarh.
Mallick informed that Sundargarh has already started efforts at various levels to boost crop output, enhance crop diversification and ensure sustainable agricultural practices. With focused attention, technical support, effective planning and fund support, the PMDDKY is expected to bring in enormous development in agriculture and allied sectors of the district.
The CDAO said they are ready with the guidelines and after physical allocation of fund and approval, the scheme would be immediately launched in Sundargarh.
The PMDDKY aims to ensure and enhance agriculture productivity, crop diversification, sustainable agriculture practices and post-harvest storage at block and panchayat levels along with improving irrigation and facilitate easy long-term and short-term loans.
The scheme further ensures proactive removal of all gaps in the selected districts by converging existing schemes of Agriculture department and other allied departments besides helping partnership with other states.
To track the performance of PMDDKY districts, a dashboard similar to that being used for the aspirational districts programme is being developed by the NITI Aayog. The selected districts will be ranked on monthly basis for progress and outcomes.