Gandhinagar, 24 February, 2012

The government of Gujarat will clear all pending applications for new agriculture power connections in the state in next three years, said Finance Minister Shri Vajubhai Vala in his budget speech. Shri Vala announced Rs 1700 crore in next one year for completion of first phase of this target.

The Finance Minister in his budget speech said that in Gujarat all previous governments gave 6 lakh agricultural power connections, while only Modi govt in last one decade gave 4 lakh connections.

Shri Vajubhai Vala announced a dedicated TV channel for Agricultural training and promotion. He announced two food parks and Food processing mission for value edition.

Shri Vajubhai Vala announced budget for 50,000 biogas plants.

He announced huge budget for khet talavadis, Gujarat green revolution company, PF mandali, canal betterment works, organic farming etc.

Shri Vala announced Rs 20 crore for three lakh cotton farmers as an aid for Cotton crop insurance premium.

Shri Vala announced five new animal hostels, 50 new veterinary dispensaries and 57 new mobile veterinary centers.

He announced that Gau Seva Board will be renamed as Gauseva and Gauchar Vikas Board. The new format of the board will work for development of Gauchars.

Read on the entire list of Agriculture and Animal Husbandary department announcements in Vajubhai Vala’s speech:

 The Irrigation System is acknowledged as an important infrastructure for agricultural development;

 A provision of ` 3195 crore is made for the expansion of Narmada Canal network.

 A provision of ` 653 crore for works of canal rehabilitation and water conservation in the existing irrigation schemes;

 A provision of ` 35 crore has been made for canal rehabilitation along with transfer of irrigation management to farmers cooperatives (Khedut Piyat Mandali).

 Due to climatic conditions and lack of perennial rivers, the livelihood of the Gujarat farmers has been generally based on rain-fed agriculture. In order to achieve any improvements in the field of agriculture, one had to rely on ground water and this would not be possible without electricity connection.

 In the past, it was difficult for the farmer to get electricity connections. Data indicates that in the earlier 40 years, there were only 6 lakh 70 thousand electricity connections for agriculture, whereas in the past decade, this Government has succeeded in providing about 4 lakh new electric connections and thereby making farmers equal partners in this journey of agricultural development.

 In the past, annual subsidy of only ` 300 crore was allotted for electricity consumed in agriculture, against which, the present Government provides an annual subsidy of ` 3000 crore to the farmers for electricity.

 In 1986-87; against the cost of 87 paisa per unit of electricity, the average realization was 58 paisa per unit and farmers were getting 2187 million units of electricity whereas, against the current unit cost of ` 4.41 for electricity; we now provide 13277 million units of electricity to the farmers and the average realization is only 49 paisa per unit.

 Thus, the comparison between the conditions obtaining 25 years ago and today, is evident; earlier, farmers got electricity at an average unit price of 58 paisa which has come down to 49 paisa. In the past, hardly 2000 million units of electricity were available; which has now risen to 13000 million units. It is crystal clear that Government is committed to move forward on the path of agricultural development and farmers’ welfare.

 Being committed to the welfare of farmers, the Government, has taken a revolutionary resolve to complete the works relating to all the remaining agriculture electricity connections over the next three years. A provision of ` 500 crore has been made for providing one lakh electricity connections a total cost of ` 1700 crore, in the first phase, in the next year.

 Provision of ` 150 crore is made for providing quality power to farmers under Kisan Hith Urja Shakti Yojana (KHUSY);

 Land is a precious asset for the farmer. The use of modern technology for accurate planning as regards the rights to the land would be of great benefit to the farmers. A provision of ` 53 crore has been made for providing latest, accurate and digitized record to all the stakeholders in the land by undertaking re-survey of agriculture land in the entire state by Revenue Department.

 The farmer of Gujarat is now also advancing in the field of horticulture. The conservation of fruit crops is therefore equally important for the farmer. To ensure protection for horticulture produce, a total provision of ` 20 crore has been made for modern infrastructure facilities like go-down, cold storage, banana ripening chamber etc.

 Provision of ` 20 crore for assistance for storage facilities for fertilizers so that fertilizers can be made available when required by the farmers.

 A provision of ` 80 crore for the construction works, education and research activities in Agricultural Universities for creation of technical manpower in Agriculture sector.

 Progress in the direction of value-addition would enable farmers to get higher value for their products. This can be achieved, if food processing is undertaken for value addition, in those crops where the production shows an increasing trend. A provision of ` 3.75 crore has been made for setting up of Mission on Food Processing at State level.

 A provision of ` 10 crore for starting two Mega Food Park in the State to provide modern market access for farm produce so that farmers can get a fair price for their crops. Agro Tech Farming: The aim of this component is to encourage farmers to adopt modern agricultural equipments and to enable them to get better income with less input cost, through use of various modern machineries and farming systems such as Precision Farming.

 A provision of ` 48.50 crore for assistance to provide services of farm machinery to small and marginal farmers by Agro Service Provider besides, assistance to individual farmers to purchase equipments.

 A provision of ` 155 crore has been made under Horticulture which includes ;

 Provision of ` 22 crore for Green House, Poly House, Net house and trellis to encourage vegetable crops.

 Provision of ` 35 crore for 15% assistance in ten districts of the State besides assistance given under National Horticulture Mission norms.

 Provision of ` 2 crore for the additional 7.5% assistance for high tech green house have been made.

 A provision of ` 1.50 crore for the assistance for water conservation to the farmers adopting drip irrigation system in horticulture farming.

 It is planned for making available a Satellite Channel for Agriculture Training and extension, based on new transponder.

Productive Agriculture : The aim of this component is to enable farmers to get maximum productivity and production from their farms.

 Land is an invaluable asset for the farmers. A provision of ` 359 crore has been made for Land Rehabilitation, Salinity Control, Farm Pond and Water Conservation by Gujarat Land Development Corporation.

 A provision of ` 19.32 crore has been made under River Valley Project of Sabarmati and Dantiwada for Land and Soil Conservation and afforestation.

 A provision of ` 60 crore for construction of Farm Ponds for storage of rain water in the agricultural fields.

 Ensuring good quality and high productivity of seeds is necessary to achieve increased agricultural productivity. The importance of seeds in agriculture sector cannot be understated. A new gem has been added in the saga of agriculture development of Gujarat. With the recent sanction from central Government, Gujarat is now in a position to make available High yielding BT cotton Seeds to our farmers at a reasonable price.

 Provision of ` 47 crore is made to assist farmers for Certified Seed production on a large scale, for the first time, by the State Government, to improve quality and productivity of cotton, cumin and castor which are important commercial crops. It is also planned to increase the prescribed limit of the area from 20 gunthas to 2 hectares for availing of assistance for seed production in respect of other crops.

 A provision of ` 3 crore to encourage farmers for seed production of important crop like
wheat.

 Narmada based irrigation facility has now been made available to large number of farmers in the State. A provision of ` 6 crore has been made for providing training and input assistance for crops for adopting cropping pattern consistent with irrigation through cluster approach. Sustainable Agriculture: The aim of this component is to ensure qualitative production by adopting environment-friendly practices in addition to soil and water conservation.

 A provision of ` 400 crore to Gujarat Green Revolution Company to cover 1.85 lakh hectare farm land under drip irrigation and sprinkler irrigation.

 A provision of ` 5 crore has been made to impart training to farmers on the model farms of progressive Farmers “Krushina Rushi”, in order to create awareness and provide training to farmers to move to modern and sustainable farming practices from conventional farming practices.

 A provision of ` 41 crore has been made to set up 50,000 Bio-gas plants as a part of Rural Environment Improvement.

 As a result of intensive farming system, productivity increases but it is also necessary that land quality should be preserved. We have been conducting soil testing successfully for the last four years. It is now planned to prepare soil maps of 8000 villages in the first phase, by creating facilities in 15 laboratories for increased capacity for Micronutrient testing of agriculture land. A provision of ` 5 crore for the same.

 It is proposed to give assistance to the farmers to encourage them for using micronutrients to meet such deficiency in soil.

 A provision of ` 8.80 crore has been made to encourage farmers for the use of liquid fertilizer and organic manure to preserve quality of land. Viable Agriculture: The aim of this component is to enable farmers to get sufficient return for their efforts and investment.

 A provision of ` 236 crore under Crop Insurance Scheme for securing the income based on farming and economical security of farmers.

 Farmers are disinclined to take crop insurance of cotton crop due to its high premium rate, so a provision of ` 20 crore has been made to give assistance to 3 lakh farmers on insurance premium for cotton crop.

 A provision of ` 60 crore has been made for 2% interest relief on short term credit on agriculture, through co-operative credit structure, to make credit at 7% available to the farmers in the State as per credit policy.

 In order to augment long term income, a provision of ` 10 crore has been made to encourage farmers for growing trees such as Teak, Sevan, Mahogany, Bamboo on boundary of farms and for taking up Oil Palm Plantation.

Animal Husbandry
 A provision of ` 343.75 crore has been made for animal health services and infrastructure veterinary facilities, which would in turn benefit the 42 lakh families connected to animal husbandry and dairy activities in the State.

 A provision of ` 53.28 crore has been made for providing assistance for infrastructural facilities to more than 1400 Village Milk Co-operatives through 11 District Milk Federations, for adopting scientific methods for milk collection and for quality maintenance.

 A provision of ` 35.95 crore has been made to establish three new Bull Mother Farms for Gir Cow, Jafarabadi and Banni buffaloes in the State to improve cattle breeds of Gujarat gradually and to cover more than 18 lakh animals under scientific animal breeding.

 Provision of ` 17.40 crore for establishment of new frozen semen station for breeding of the Gir cows and for Embryo transfer Scheme.

 Provision of ` 2.42 crore for establishment of 80 new Artificial Insemination Centers at village level in four districts (Jamnagar, Surendranagar, Dahod and Narmada) for expansion of cattle breeding facilities in the state.

 Provision of ` 20 crore for works related to Kamdhenu University established for development of animal husbandry on scientific lines.

 It is proposed to establish community animal hostels in rural areas in order to bring in innovation into the animal husbandry sector. While the expenditure for care and maintenance of the animals can be reduced by rearing them in groups, at the same time, Gobar Gas Plants would also be established using cattle dung. This arrangement would make available Nirdhum Chullahs for homes and organic manure for the fields. Provision of ` 20.75 crore is made to set up five animal hostels under this new initiative.

 Provision of ` 17.80 crore for construction and repairing of more than 100 buildings of veterinary dispensaries in the state.

 Provision of ` 9.48 crore for establishing 50 new veterinary dispensaries and 57 new mobile veterinary dispensaries.

 It is proposed to expand the scope of Gau Seva Board and make it functional as GauSeva Gauchar Vikas Board and start a scheme of fodder production on pasture land in villages so as to make available green fodder for cattle. Provision of ` 4.80 crore. Thus, a holistic and integrated planning is proposed to encourage and assist the farmers in the agriculture and related sector.