• 2^nd Dec 2021
• by Agriculture Post

India covers 59 lakh ha area with micro irrigation under PMKSY

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana scheme is operational in India from 2015-16 which focuses on enhancing water use efficiency at the farm level through micro-irrigation

The Per Drop More Crop component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY-PDMC) scheme is operational in India from 2015-16 which focuses on enhancing water use efficiency at the farm level through micro-irrigation (MI). A total area of 59.37 lakh hectares has been covered under micro-irrigation in the country under PMKSY-PDMC from 2015-16 to till date.

During the last three years, Central assistance of Rs. 8141.96 crore was released to states and an area of 32.68 lakh hectares covered under micro-irrigation through the scheme.

The PMKSY- PDMC is a Centrally sponsored scheme and the funds under the scheme are shared between Central government and state governments in the ratio of 60:40 for all states except the North Eastern and Himalayan states wherein sharing pattern is 90:10. In the case of union territories, the funding pattern is 100 per cent grant by the Central government. The Central assistance to states under the scheme is provided based on their Annual Action Plan approved by the state-level sanctioning committees (SLSC) under the chairmanship of the chief secretaries of their respective states. Besides, operational guidelines of the scheme have been issued to support the states and farmers on various aspects for effective implementation of the scheme.

With the objective of facilitating the states in mobilising resources for expanding coverage of micro-irrigation, a Micro Irrigation Fund (MIF) with a corpus of Rs. 5000 crore was created with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) during 2018-19. The states are encouraged to access MIF for innovative projects and an additional incentive to farmers for installation of micro irrigation systems by interest subvention of three per cent than the cost of funds mobilised by NABARD from the market. So far, projects with loans under MIF amounting to Rs. 3970.17 crore have been approved for 12.81 lakh hectares of micro-irrigation area.

To continue the efforts, during the current year, a budget announcement was made to double the initial corpus of MIF from Rs. 5,000 crores to Rs. 10,000 crores.

State Wise list of Central assistance and micro-irrigation area coverage in last three years

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