Expecting normal monsoon during the Kharif season, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, on Monday, launched a Krishi Abhiyan and set a target foodgrain production at 130 lakh tonnes in 2016-17.
He said Krishi Melas would be organised at the hobli-level to create awareness among the farmers on the availability of new technologies. Noting that the State’s food grains production was 110 lakh tonnes in 2015-16 owing to drought in 137 taluks, he said normal monsoon would enable farmers to commence early preparation of their lands for sowing.
The government has extended input subsides, and 9.75 lakh quintal of seeds would be procured during the 2016 Kharif season, he said.
The Krishi Abhiyan was launched in front of the Vidhana Soudha in the presence of Minister of State for Agriculture Krishna Byre Gowda and department officials.
Mr. Gowda said the centre has allocated 21 lakh tonnes of fertilizers to the State during the Kharif season.
About supply of inferior quality of Bt cotton seeds, he said the Centre’s Seeds Act was weak and there was a need for a strong law to impose penalty on firms supplying inferior quality of seeds.
In a move that will allow fixing the sales price of transgenic and Bt cotton seeds, the Karnataka Transgenic and Genetically Modified Cotton Seeds (Fixation of Sale Price and Payment of Compensation) Bill, 2015, was passed, but the Governor Vajubhai Vala had referred it to President Pranab Mukherjee.
He said there was no provision in the present seed laws to fix price for cotton seeds. The Bill makes a provision to compensate farmers in case of failure of transgenic and genetically-modified cotton crops by fixing the responsibility on seed producers to compensate farmers suitably, thus mitigating hardship.
During 2013 Kharif season, transgenic and genetically-modified cotton crop failed on 60,450 hectares in Haveri, Dharwad, Belagavi, Chitradurga, Davangere, and Ballari districts, he pointed out.
