Karnataka to launch Rs 146 crore farm mechanisation scheme in FY15

Plans to conduct soil health of every farmer and issue soil health cards

The department of agriculture is introducing a new farm mechanization scheme involving an initial outlay of Rs 146 crores from the current year. Under this scheme, the government intends to supply farm equipment like tractors, rotovators, ploughing machines and harvesters among others to farmers.

"There is a need for farmers to engage tractors to till their land but at the same time every farmer cannot purchase tractor because it will not be economical for him. So, we have decided to set up custom hire centres (CHCs) at every Hobli level, which will in turn supply these machines to farmers at a nominal rent. This will be a public private partnership model and implemented over a period of two years," said Krishna Byregowda, minister for agriculture.

Speaking on the demand for grants for agriculture for the current year in the state legislative assembly, he said to begin with the government will invest 75% of the money required, while the private party selected through a tender will put in the remaining 25% in the first year.

"In the second year, the investment will be shared in the ratio of 50:50 between the government and the private investor. From the third year onwards till the sixth year, the private investor will continue to invest, operate and manage the CHCs for six years." 

The government will spend Rs 70 crore for the current year for this scheme. Recently, the department of agriculture had floated tenders and Dharmasthala Trust has shown interest to participate in this scheme. The government is talking to them, according to him.

"Our aim is to increase the productivity of our farmers. To achieve this, the farmers require all modern implements like tractor, rotovator and harvesting machine among others. They can borrow on rent from CHCs and till their land," he added.

Byregowda said the government has decided to invest in this scheme so that it could bring down the rentals of these equipment. This will be a self-sustainable model going forward and extended to all Hoblis in the state.

Soil Health study

Just providing modern equipment is not sufficient to increase productivity. There is a need to check the soil health and suggest measures to improve. In order to do this, the government has planned to conduct soil health test across the state in a phased manner.

" There are 7.8 million farmers in the state and presently, only 130,000 soil tests are conducted through the existing soil testing centres. In order to reach out to all the farmers, the government has decided to set up soil testing centres with the help of private players under a PPP model. The government of India also provides assistance under National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture for conducting the soil tests, which will be utilized," Byregowda said.

"The state government is eligible to get an assistance of Rs 15 crores from the government of India for the current year" , he added, further.

Under this scheme, the government will conduct soil health tests on a mission mode and go to the farmers' fields and conduct the tests. The government will spend Rs 80 crore for this programme during the current year, he said adding that the farmers will be given Soil Health Cards and the data will be maintained in a digital format for future reference.