India is committed to transparency in governance: Agriculture Minister

NEW DELHI (INDIA): A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed here today between Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) and National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) for geotagging of agriculture land in presence of India’s Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh and Dr. Jitendra Singh, the Minister of State, Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space, Development of North Eastern Region, Ministry of Personnel Public Grievances & Pensions. Shobhna K Patnaik, Secretary DAC & FW, Dr. Kiran Kumar, President, ISRO, Director, NRASA DAC and senior officer of NRASA were also present on this occasion.nnSingh said that Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) works for the development of Agriculture & allied sectors by motivating the states. More than 1.5 lakh assets have been created/ developed under this scheme in agriculture, horticulture, livestock, fisheries and dairy sectors. It is imperative to formulate a national index of the assets to understand them, systemize them and to reduce the gap between demand and supply.nnAgriculture Minister said that the government is committed to transparency in governance. Shri Singh said that development of space-related technologies to prepare the list of the assets and their utilisation is a progressive step. Being aware of the realistic status of assets will not only be helpful in monitoring and utilising, but also be extremely useful in formulating development schemes in the agriculture sector. Agriculture Minister added that it will also help in avoiding duplication and pave the way for harmonising a balance between the various schemes of the ministry.nnSingh further added that there is unlimited scope for agriculture development by utilising satellite and remote sensing technologies. The government wants farmers to avail the benefits provided by these technologies.nnSingh said that by utilising space-related technologies farmers will get timely information about pesticide/residue testing labs, storage infrastructure and agriculture markets.nnAgriculture Minister informed that the space technology needs to be developed in the areas such as land resource mapping, pesticides management, soil health mapping, crop yield estimation as well as the identification and assessment of floods like calamities, inland fisheries, animal species identification and sheep rearing and when the technology is developed, the farmers can enjoy quick and instant benefits.nnSingh said very soon farmers would utilise the internet and mobile phones to obtain agriculture related information such as fertility of soil, the quantity of fertiliser to be used, condition for sowing potential pests aggression, estimation of yield, godowns, cold storage, agriculture markets as well as identification and availabilities of animal species.nnAgriculture Minister showered both the teams as well as states with praise for applying space and remote sensing technologies to monitor agriculture-related assets under RKVY.