The State government will introduce the State Agricultural Development Scheme this year with a total allocation of ₹71 crore to fulfil farmers’ needs and increase their income, Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare M.R.K. Panneerselvam said on Saturday.
Presenting the Agriculture Budget in the Assembly, he said the scheme would be implemented by the ‘Kalaignar All Village Integrated Agriculture Development Programme’ with 15 key features. One of these would be the promotion of organic farming, for which the government had initiated the establishment of a Nammazhwar Organic Farming Research Institute.
Mr. Panneerslvam announced ₹4 crore for the production of organic produce in foodgrains, vegetables and fruits for the development of immunity. Farmers groups interested in the production and sale of organic inputs, such as vermicompost and jeevamirtham, will get ₹ 1 lakh per group. This scheme will be extended to 100 such groups.
In a separate announcement, the Minister said the Tamil Nadu Organic Farming Mission would be implemented by the Horticulture Department on a cluster-based approach.
There will be two clusters in each district with a size of 50 hectares. The project outlay is ₹30 crore. The Mission will create awareness about the cultivation practices through special trainings and exposure visit, give information on soil health, advice on bio-fertilizer production units and create residual analytical laboratory for testing the produces registering with the Organic Certification Department.
Another feature of the Agricultural Development Scheme is the distribution of tarpaulin to safeguard harvests. Tarpaulin will be distributed to 60,000 farmers at a cost of ₹5 crore, the Minister said.
Mr. Panneerselvam said the Farmer Producer Companies Management Centre would be established to support the farmer producer organisations. The government will engage agri-business consultants, charted accountants and financial experts in the centre.
Farmers and farmer producer companies can approach the centre anytime through Whatsapp as well to clear their queries.
