With a view to provide impetus to the Micro Irrigation in the country, Micro Irrigation Fund with a corpus of Rs.5000 crore has been operationalized in NABARD from 2019-20. To further strengthen & expand the adoption of Micro Irrigation systems by the farmers in the county for enhancing water use efficiency at farm level, a Budget announcement has been made to double the initial corpus of Micro Irrigation Fund of Rs. 5000 created under NABARD, by augmenting it by another Rs. 5,000 crores.
What is Micro Irrigation
Micro Irrigation is the optimum amount of water which is applied slowly and directly above or below the soil surface in the root zone of crop, usually by discrete or continuous drops, tiny stream or miniature/fine spray through emitters or applicators placed along a water delivery line near the plan. It also help in reducing water-logging, fertiliser usage, labour expenses and other input costs and in enhancing the agricultural productivity and farmers’ income besides sustaining soil health.
On the basis of recommendations of Report of the Task Force on Micro Irrigation in 2004, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW) launched Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Micro Irrigation in 2005-06 which was subsequently converted as National Mission on Micro Irrigation in 2010-11. During 2014-15, the scheme was subsumed as On Farm Water Management component of National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture and further subsumed under Per Drop More Crop component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) launched on 1st July, 2015
Objective of Micro Irrigation Fund
The objective of the fund is to facilitate State Government efforts in mobilizing additional resources for expanding coverage under micro irrigation and incentivizing its adoption beyond provisions of PMKSY-PDMC (Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana – Per Drop More Crop).
Nodal Ministry of Micro Irrigation Fund
Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW), Government of India is the Nodal Ministry
Consequences of MIF
- States would be encouraged to promote micro irrigation on a larger scale
- More coverage area under Micro Irrigation to improve water use efficiency
References
We hope you liked this article on Micro Irrigation Fund. Here are some useful government schemes for you to read next:
Download this article as PDF
Click to go to RBI Grade B | NABARD Grade A | Government Schemes
Tags: Micro Irrigation Fund PDF