Odisha Will Soon Have a New Agriculture Policy

The Odisha government will be formulating a new agriculture policy that will focus on improving farmers income, said an official on 11^th June 2019.

Saurabh Garg, Agriculture Secretary said the state government will change the Agriculture Policy 2013 with a new one that will concentrate on the income enhancement of farmers. He told that the Agriculture Department had asked for suggestions from various departments concerned to prepare the new policy. The departments were asked to submit their inputs within 2 weeks.

He said the idea of the draft policy was to harness Odisha’s agriculture potential in a sustainable manner & increase its farmers’ earnings continuously while ensuring nutritional security.

The draft policy is being worked out through a broad process of discussions with experts, farmers’ groups, universities and civil society bodies. The policy also suggests sector-wise interventions to overcome the difficulties faced in past few years and maximize the outcomes.

Aditya Prasad Padhi, Chief Secretary on 11^th June 2019 chaired a high-level intersectoral meeting for the purpose at the Secretariat. He directed officers to create an ecosystem for flourishing of farmer producer groups & mobilising private investment in the agriculture sector.

Asit Kumar Tripathy, Development Commissioner told the policy must be oriented towards crop diversification, value addition & market linkages. Meanwhile, Agriculture Production Commissioner, Gagan Kumar Dhal recommended developing calamity resilient seeds & agricultural practices.

An official said public investment in agriculture had reached to Rs 17,000 crore in the year 2018-19.

The state government in Odisha has taken many pioneering steps such as rolling out an exclusive budget for agriculture & forming a separate Agri-Cabinet. And because of this, the state has become a surplus agri producer that had produced 117 lakh MT of food grain in the year 2016-17 with 25 lakh MT rice surplus.