Prime Minister Narendra Modi will throw open 1.25 lakh ‘PM Kisan Seva’ facilities as one-stop centres for farmers to source fertilizers, seeds, pesticides, soil testing equipment etc. at affordable prices across the country in the first phase on Thursday, informed Union Minister for Tourism and Telangana BJP president G. Kishan Reddy on Wednesday.
In total, about 2.80 crore retail fertilizer shops will be upgraded into such centres in phases under this “revolutionary” initiative by the Central government. Farmers will be made aware of modern agriculture practices and about the schemes by the Central and State governments for their benefit in these centres, he said.
The Minister himself will be present at Shamirpet centre here for the inauguration, and about 4,000 such centres will be inaugurated across Telangana. He appealed to the farmers and public representatives to participate in the programme.
Addressing a press conference at the party office, the Minister said the government’s introduction of neem-coated urea had already helped in arresting black marketing, environment pollution and less diversion to the industries. Another new initiative will be to supply sulphur-coated urea from Thursday as part of efforts to increase crop production.
The revamped farmer centres will advise on the crops to be raised, fertilizer to be used, and enable seeds and water testing along with correct usage. The district-level networks will be provided with drones for spraying pesticide on rental basis, he said.
Mr.Kishan Reddy claimed that, unlike in the past, there is no shortage of fertilizer in the country and sufficient quantities have been made available in the country without any rationing under the Modi government. Farmers’ group meetings will be held on every second Sunday of a month under ‘Kisan Baat’ to discuss the issues and problems as well as to learn about the best practices. WhatsApp groups are to be created for each of the seva kendras being formed where information about weather, agriculture, and market updates will be shared.
Personnel manning these ‘one stop centres’ have been trained to deal with farmer issues, and skill upgradation will be a continuous programme. Information about every seva kendra’s work will be reviewed periodically by the Centre, said the Minister.
The BJP leader said the 14th instalment of ‘PM Kisan Sanman Nidhi’ will also released into the individual accounts of 8.5 crore farmers, including 39 lakh farmers in Telangana and the total outlay is around ₹17,500 crore. The farmers’ producers organisations will be brought into Open Network Digital Commerce to enhance the network as part of the initiative, he added.
