BHUBANESWAR: Members, cutting party lines, expressed concern over the poor utilisation of Government agriculture and horticulture farms in the State when the farmers are depending on other states for foundation and certified seeds.
Raising the issue during question hour, Hitesh Kumar Bagartti of the BJP sought to know from the Government about the status of the Government agricultural farms in the State and the plan and proposal of the Government for their revival. He was particularly interested to know if the Government has any plan to lease out these farms to farmers cooperative societies.
Participating in the discussion through supplementary questions, several members said the Government is doing nothing to improve the condition of the existing agricultural and horticulture farms which can easily meet the seeds requirement of the State.
While Jayanarayan Mishra of the BJP said none of the farms in Sambalpur is functioning, Anup Sai of Congress sought to know as to why the Government is not reviving the Lachhipalli farm, once a model farm, with Russian assistance.
Senior BJD leaders Pradip Maharathy and Arabinda Dhali, senior Congress leaders Dambarudhar Ullaka and Prasad Harichandan and Amar Satpathy of the NCP also wanted to know from Agriculture Minister Damodar Rout about the plan to revive the Government farms in their districts.
Harichandan sought to know the utilisation of funds allocated under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikash Yojana (RKVY) for development of agricultural and horticulture farms.
In response, the Agriculture Minister said five out of 62 agricultural farms are lying unutilised. Though the State has 85 horticulture farms, he was not sure how many of them are non-functional.
Admitting that the Government farms have huge potential to generate foundation and certified seeds, the Minister said he would review the status of the farms and visit as many farms as possible to get a first hand information. He said the Centre had sought views of the states on the proposed Seeds Bill. The State will give its views after examining the provisions of the bill.