Agriculture department moots Krishi Sanjeevini vehicles for all raitha sampark kendras

KARKALA: Agriculture department has drawn up an ambitious plan to provide Krishi Sanjeevini – lab to land – mobile soil testing laboratories to all raitha samparka kendras in Karnataka. As a pilot, 20 such vehicles have been given to as many Kendras in Koppal districts.
The department has urged chief minister B S Yediyurappa to allot funds to purchase 519 vehicles for the remaining Kendras, minister for agriculture B C Patil announced here on Monday.
Launching the ‘Kaarla Kaje’ boiled rice brand and ‘Karkala Bili Bende’ seeds, Patil said the CM has in-principle agreed to sanction funds to purchase these vehicles. With a common toll free number for the state – 155313 – farmers will get soil testing assistance at their doorsteps. Krishi Sanjeevini vehicle will have an agriculture graduate working and assist the farmers with the kind of nutrients they need to use for the type of soil they have, he said.
In addition, the department has also launched ‘Swabhimani Raitha’ cards for farmers and 1.5 lakh cards have been distributed in Koppal. This will be extended to the rest of the state and around 70 lakh farmers will receive the card, Patil said. The card will contain all details of the farmer including their RTC and bank details and do away with the need for them to carry multiple identification documents while going to banks for their transaction, he said.
The department will also strive to promote organic farming in a big way. The state government had set aside Rs 200 crore for this purpose in last year’s budget, but could not make much headway due to financial constraints that the pandemic brought forth. Farmers in Haveri have proved skeptics wrong by their successful experimentation with organic farming, he said adding the department has urged CM to put this scheme back on track.
Plans are also afoot to promote comprehensive agricultural practice that farmers in Kolar, an arid area, have followed. Citing the example of Ashwathamma, a farmer, Patil said she has become a role model for farmers in this arid district and grows a variety of crops in her six acres of land. Rather than hail the much touted Israel model, farmers in India with such success stories have given a means to eke out a profitable life through agriculture, he said.