Bhubaneswar: The State Agriculture Department will from now onwards function in accordance with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s ‘5Ts’. Accordingly, 15 senior agriculture officials have been asked to visit the 30 districts in the state and gather information on how the government’s schemes and programmes are being implemented.
Each official has been allotted two districts. They will meet the farmers and interact with them to understand their problems. The officials will also assess soil compatibility, condition of crops and advice the farmers accordingly. Work for this project will start November 2 and the officials will have to present their reports by November 10.
Among other responsibilities the officials will have to undertake are the standard of fertilizers and pesticides, taking stock of the situation with regard to soil cards, development of projects launched under ‘Rashtriya Krishi Vikash Yojana’ and ‘Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana’. The officials will have to find out if soil conservation and plantation of saplings carried out under MGNREGS are being done in a proper manner.
These officials have also been asked to upload information regarding the situation and management of Krishi Seva centres and the functioning of Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA).
The officials will also monitor the attendance of VAWs at gram panchayats, advancement of Odisha Millet Mission in tribal-dominated districts and implementation of organic farming under Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY).
These apart, they will meet members of SHGs and agricultural associations as well as convene district level meetings to figure out the situation of farming in the districts.
The 15 officials who have been entrusted with this responsibility are Dukhishyam Paik (Koraput and Rayagada), Mary Lakra (Angul and Dhenkanal), Chittaranjan Patra (Kandhamal and Bolangir), Banani Mohanty (Subarnapur and Boudh), Manmath Kumar Pani (Keonjhar and Deogarh), Chinmay Kabi (Bhadrak and Jajpur), Sadananda Nayak (Mayurbhanj and Balasore), Jyoti Ranjan Mishra (Sundargarh and Jharsuguda), Siba Narayan Nanda (Khurda and Puri), Subhendu Sekhar De (Cuttack and Nayagarh), Prachi Mohaptra (Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur), Padmolochan Nayak (Malkangiri and Nabarangpur), Ashwini Kumar Surjit (Kalahandi and Nuapara), Bipin Bihari Panigrahi (Ganjam and Gajapati) Gobardhhan Debta (Sambalpur and Bargarh).
PNN