Farmers' Commission constituted

Tathya.in, Nov 19, 2009
Bhubaneswar:19/November/2009

The Odisha Government has constituted a State Commission for Farmers (SCF).

Acting upon the proposal of Damodar Rout, Minister Agriculture, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has appointed a 4-Member Commission.

S M Patnaik, former Chief Secretary will head the Commission.

Other Members are Niranjan Panda, Soil Scientist, Sudhakar Panda, Economist and D P Ray, VC OUAT.

Dr.Ray will be Member Convenor of the Commission.

Dr.Rout gave the proposal saying as 70 per cent of the population depends on the agriculture; improvement of the sectors will boost economy of the state.

And the agriculture in the state characterisized as low productivity due to various factors.

So to boost the productivity and production in the field, Government has announced Policy framework, which needs to be implemented properly.

Accordingly a practical strategy is needed said Dr.Rout.

Dr.Rout said that the State Commission for Farmers is needed, which will look into the various issues and involvement of the stake holders to work out a practical strategy.

Though there is a National Commission for Agriculture headed by Dr. M S Swaminathan, state needs a Commission as it has different agro-climatic zones, various cropping patterns and various other issues.

Agreeing on the above proposal not only the Chief Minister appoiunted the Commission but also asked the Commission to co-opt any other experts to help them out.

Dr.Rout is now fine-tuning the Terms of Reference (TOR) and in search of top notch experts in the field to go into depth of the malaise that has hit the state badly.

At least 24 farmers have committed suicide and the State Government is drawing flak both inside and outside the Odisha Legislative Assembly (OLA).