New Delhi, Sep 2 (IANS) The Cabinet on Monday approved seven major schemes worth Rs 13,966 crore to improve the lives of farmers and increase their income.
Based on digital public infrastructure, the ‘Digital Agriculture Mission’ will use technology to improve the lives of farmers with an outlay of Rs 2,817 crore.
It has provision for soil profiling, digital crop estimation, digital yield modelling, connect for crop loan, modern technologies like AI and Big Data, connect with buyers and bring new knowledge on mobile phones.
It consists of two fundamental pillars viz. Agriculture Stack and Agriculture Decision Support Systems (geospatial data, drought/flood monitoring and modelling for crop yield and insurance etc.).
The second scheme is named ‘Crop Science for Food and Nutrition Security’. Its total outlay is Rs 3,979 crore. This initiative will prepare farmers for climate resilience and provide food security by 2047.
The scheme ‘Strengthening Agricultural Education, Management and Social Sciences’ with a total outlay of Rs 2,291 crore will prepare agricultural students and researchers for the current challenges and includes the following.
The Rs 1,702-crore ‘Sustainable Livestock Health and Production’ scheme aims to increase farmers’ income from livestock and dairy.
It includes animal health management and veterinary education, dairy production and technology development, animal genetic resource management, production and improvement and animal nutrition.
The fifth scheme, ‘Sustainable Development of Horticulture’, with an outlay of Rs 860 crore, aims to increase the income of farmers from horticultural plants.
The Cabinet was told that the ‘Strengthening of Krishi Vigyan Kendra’ scheme has an outlay of Rs 1,202 crore, while the ‘Natural Resource Management’ scheme has an outlay of Rs 1,115 crore.
–IANS
SHK/CBT
