Emphasizing on potato cultivation in view of acute scarcity of tubers in the state, the Odisha government today decided to undertake rabi crop cultivation in over 33 lakh hectares of land this fiscal.
The decision was taken at a high level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here. "The meeting resolved that Rs 3,800 crore crop loan will be given to farmers in this rabi season," an official said.
Of the 33 lakh hectares of land, paddy crop cultivation would be taken up in 3.5 lakh hectares while sugarcane, oil seeds, potato, onion, maize, vegetables and other crops would be grwon in the rest of the land.
Patnaik directed officials of the agriculture and cooperative departments to provide high yielding seeds, in time supply of fertilisers and pesticide and proper storage facility.
Both cooperative and agriculture departments were asked to develop six cold storages each to facilitate farmers to store their produces, he said.
