Bhubaneswar: For the welfare of state’s farmers, the government is going to start one Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) Centre in every district of Odisha, informed Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain here Saturday.
The centre will encourage agri-innovation and serve as a one-stop resource centre. It will be equipped with adequate technical manpower to resolve different issues of farmers related to different agricultural programmes/activities like Mukhyamantri Krushi Udyoga Yojana (MKUY), Simplified Application for Agricultural Loans (SAFAL), Go Sugam and Krushak Odisha and KALIA, briefed the minister.
A nodal officer from office of the chief district agriculture officer (CDAO) will monitor the day-to-day functioning of the KALIA Centre, he informed.
In this regard, a letter has been issued by Agriculture principal secretary Arabinda Kumar Padhee to all Collectors to arrange a suitable building for functioning of KALIA Centre in and around the district headquarters.
Kalia scheme has been introduced in 2018 to provide support in cultivation to small and marginal farmers and avail livelihood support for landless agricultural households to take up non-farm activities.
The scheme of the state government is perhaps the first Universal Basic Income (UBI) scheme in the country. It has been universally acclaimed not only for its conceptualisation but also for its near-effective implementation.
Notably since the launch of the scheme, 43, 04,876 small marginal farmers/actual cultivators (sharecroppers) and 17, 71,756 landless agricultural households (LAH) have been disbursed financial assistance. As per official sources, assistance of more than `11,600 crore has been extended to these beneficiaries.
PNN