Rs 4000 Cr Alloted to ‘Per Drop Per Crop’ Programme

New Delhi: The Central government has allocated Rs 4,000 crore as annual allotment to states for the current financial year under ‘Per Drop More Crop’ component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY-PDMC).

The objective of the fund is to facilitate the states in mobilizing the resources for expanding coverage of micro irrigation by taking up special and innovative projects and also for incentivising micro irrigation beyond the provisions available under PMKSY-PDMC to encourage farmers to install micro irrigation systems, it said.

The drip micro irrigation technique not only helps in saving water but also reduces fertilizer usage, labour expenses and other input costs.

The state governments have identified the beneficiaries to be covered under the programme, said an Agriculture Ministry statement, adding that the process to release funds to some of the states is already under way for the year 2020-21.The area covered under these projects is 1.021lakh hectare in Andhra Pradesh and 1.76 lakh hectare in Tamil Nadu.