NEW DELHI, 25 April 2022: Government of India is supplementing the efforts of state governments to encourage diversified production of crops such as pulses, coarse cereals, nutri cereals, cotton & oilseeds under National Food Security Mission (NFSM) and horticultural crops under Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH).

Government of India also provide flexibility to the states for state specific needs/priorities under RKVY. The state can promote crop diversification under RKVY with the approval of State Level Sanctioning Committee (SLSC) headed by Chief Secretary of the State.

Further, the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW) is implementing the Crop Diversification Programme (CDP), a sub-scheme of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) in the Original Green Revolution States viz; Haryana, Punjab & Western Uttar Pradesh since 2013-14 to divert the area of water intensive paddy crop to alternative crops like pulses, oilseeds, coarse cereals, nutri cereals, cotton etc.

CDP was extended to diversifying tobacco crop in 10 tobacco growing states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal from 2015-16. Under CDP assistance is given for alternative crops demonstration, farm mechanization and value addition, site specific activities and contingency for awareness & capacity building etc.

CDP aims at demonstrating alternative crops at farmers field and the area brought under demonstrations is 6.32 lakh hectare during 2013-14 to 2020-21.

This information was given by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar in a written reply in Lok Sabha recently.

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