Minister of State for Agriculture Krishna Byre Gowda has said that the government would double the funds for the Krishi Bhagya scheme from next year.
Addressing a gathering after inspecting a storage tank, built under the scheme, at Bidarkundi village in Muddebihal taluk on Saturday, he said that the scheme had been implemented in 107 taluks in the State, including five in Vijayapura district.
“The government has earmarked Rs. 500 crore for the project and based on the success it proposes to double the funds allocation next year,” he said. The Minister informed that for constructing storage tanks under the scheme, 90 per cent subsidy was given to SCs/STs beneficiaries and 80 per cent to the general category.
Stating that around 70 per cent farmers in the country were dependent on rain for agriculture, he said that the scheme granted funds to conserve rain water for utilisation during scanty monsoon. “It would at least help farmers to save their withering crop due to insufficient rain,” the Minister said. Explaining that the farmers could store from around 1.60 lakh litres to 8 lakh litres of water in their tanks, Mr. Krishna Byre Gowda said that government would offer subsidy for purchasing pumpsets for taking water the tank. On the occasion, he also inaugurated a centre where around 40 agriculture equipment was being rented out.
M. Ahiraj reports from Koppal
The State government was committed to helping farmers cultivating on dry land to make them self-reliant, Mr. Krishna Byre Gowda said here on Saturday.
“The government has introduced schemes to provide agricultural inputs at subsidised rates to farmers cultivating on dry land.
The farmers too are striving hard to get good yield. Due to the vagaries of monsoon, we are not getting the desired results,” he said.
