Rs 184 cr allocation for state under BGREI

Of the agreed amount of Rs 184 cr, the Odisha govt will bear 50% or Rs 92 cr as state share

The government of India has approved an allocation of Rs 184 crore for Odisha under 'Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India' (BGREI) for 2015-16.

Of the agreed amount of Rs 184 crore, the Odisha government will bear 50 per cent or Rs 92 crore as state share.

On account of implementation of the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, the central allocation for BGREI has been reduced to Rs 500 crore for all states. The Union agriculture ministry has provisionally proposed that BGREI would be implemented with sharing pattern of 50:50 between the Centre and the states with effect from 2015-16 to ensure that investment in agriculture does not go down.

Out of total outlay made to states, one per cent fund is earmarked towards contingency expenditure for effective monitoring of the BGREI. Of the balance outlay, at least 80 per cent of the fund is to be allocated for rice and up to 20 per cent for wheat. The states are required to prepare action plans for implementation of BGREI and submit the same to the central agriculture ministry by April 30.

In Odisha, the BGREI action plan will be readied by a state level steering committee headed by principal secretary (agriculture), Rajesh Verma. For 2015-16, some new interventions like demonstration in clusters, cropping based training and site specific activities are planned.

The state chief secretary, G C Pati has stressed on pre-treatment of seeds, line showing, integrated manure and pest management training to farmers. He has called for strengthening support for post-harvest management and marketing.

In 2014-15, the state utilised Rs 178.21 crore under BGERI, recording 100 per cent achievement in interventions like crop demonstration, asset building, catering to site specific need and providing marketing support, said a government release.

BGREI, a sub-scheme of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) is intended to address the constraints limiting the productivity of rice based cropping systems. It was initially launched in 2010-11 in eastern India - comprising seven states- Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, eastern Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal so that agricultural productivity is reasonably enhanced and stabilised in these areas.

The BGREI programme was announced in the Union Budget, 2010-11 with an allocation of Rs 400 crore. In Odisha, the programme is operational in 16 districts - Balasore, Bargarh, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Deogarh, Dhenkanal, Gajapati, Jagatsinghpur, Jharsuguda, Khurda, Kandhamal, Puri, Kalahandi, Koraput, Rayagada and Subarnapur.