Bhubaneswar, Oct 20 (PTI) The Odisha Government has decided to launch a programme to enhance the acreage under maize cultivation, introducing superior varieties of the grain, officials said.
Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena said the cabinet led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik made a provision of Rs 481.94 crore for the crop diversification scheme for five years at a meeting on Thursday.
The scheme – Mukhyamantri Maka Mission (MMM) – will be implemented in a “more scientific and progressive way”. The government will also work on increasing the productivity of pulses, oilseeds, fibre crops (cotton and jute) besides maize, he said.
This is expected to give a boost to employment generation in rural areas and augment farmers’ income in the state, Jena said.
The state government also decided to enhance the corpus fund for procurement and prepositioning of fertilisers from Rs 90 crore to Rs 150 crore, he said. PTI BBM BDC RG
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