Bengaluru, Jan 7 (IANS): Karnataka on Thursday formally launched 'Krishi Sanjeevini' (mobile agro clinics) to help farmers in their own backyards. As part of this scheme, 40 mobile agro clinics were rolled from outside the Vidhana Soudha.
Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, along with his cabinet colleagues, Deputy CM Lakshman Savadi, Agriculture Minister B.C. Patil and Cooperation Minister S.T. Somashekhar, green flagged these laboratories which will offer the farmers a range of free services such as soil testing, seed testing, pest control and several other tests. All these years, farmers had to travel far to the nearest laboratory to get such tests done.
After launching these vehicles, Yediyurappa said, "This project will help farmers statewide by working with authorities under the agriculture and cooperative ministries to solve the problems that farmers encounter in farming."
The Chief Minister added that the main objective of this project is to reduce the cost of production. "Farmers can buy quality fertilisers at their own level and even find cheap alternatives. These labs will help them check if the fertilisers are adulterated or not," he said.
Yediyurappa added that these labs will also help the government in planning as they will be able to provide accurate reports on what are the necessary actions to be taken to improve the conditions in agriculture.
Agriculture Minister Patil said that he is happy to launch "Agro lab on wheels", which will help farmers get simple tests like plant diseases, seed tests and soil tests done. "Production also depends on natural disasters like cyclone, heavy rain, soil erosion, overgrowth of weed and several other aspects linked to climate change, which can also be tested at their doorsteps now," he said.
The minister added that the agriculture department's priority is to provide farmers with accurate information on improved agriculture production technologies, supply of quality agricultural tools and adequate use of recommended fertilisers, pest and disease management, and nutrients available in the soil.
"This initiative is part of the National Agricultural Developmental Scheme 2020-21. These labs will also help the government conduct surveys at all stages of crop production and inform the farmers about the possible pest attacks, disease and weed management practices," he said.
He said that as part of this programme, the state government has rolled out 40 labs, each lab for 31 districts, while some big districts like Mysuru, Bengaluru Rural and Shivamogga will get two labs.