BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday released financial assistance of Rs 800 crore to 40 lakh farmers of the State under the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme besides launching several initiatives to give a boost to the agriculture sector on Akshaya Tritiya day.
The funds have been released to farmers in all districts except Jharsuguda where by-election has been announced to Brajrajnagar Assembly constituency on May 31 by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday. The Chief Minister said Rs 2,000 each has been directly deposited in the accounts of the farmers.
The Chief Minister launched eight initiatives for development of agriculture and the benefit of farmers. Stating that the farm sector has been under the focus of the government, the Chief Minister said that the State government has made an allocation of Rs 20,000 crore in the agriculture budget for 2022-23. Besides, a provision of Rs 97 crore has been made as incentives for farmers under the Jackfruit Mission launched by the State government.
The Chief Minister also launched the Rejuvenating Watershed for Agricultural Resilience through Innovative Development (Reward) and special programme for promotion of integrated farming. A provision of `239 crore has been provided to include 1.8 lakh farmers of eight districts.
Under the programme.
The Chief Minister announced a provision of Rs 500 crore for REWARD and said that Rs 2,808 crore has been provided for farmers of 19 districts under Millets Mission which will be expanded.
He inaugurated ‘Krushak Odisha’ portal on the occasion in which the farmers can update their data to get necessary services. Similarly, ‘Go-Sugam’ portal was launched for the benefit of cattle farmers.