New Delhi : With an eye on improving farm productivity, the government will spend Rs 50,000 crore over the next five years under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY). States’ share will be over and above this, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said while communicating the Cabinet decision, reports PTI.
The meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was held on Wednesday. He further said: “This can also be utilised to help the material component in MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act).”
For the current fiscal, he said the allocation is Rs 5,300 crore.
The spending this year is expected to bring an additional 6 lakh hectares under irrigation while 5 lakh hectares will benefit from drip irrigation.
That apart, 1,300 watershed projects have been marked for completion. Currently, 142 million hectares are used for cultivation, of which only 45 per cent farm land is under irrigation. The FM said the scheme is aimed at enhancing recharge of aquifers and introducing sustainable water conservation practices by exploring feasibility of re-using treated municipal water for peri-urban agriculture and attracting greater private investment in precision irrigation.
