Question : Orange Cultivation

(a) the total acreage of land under the orange cultivation and the States that are involved therein;

(b) whether the Government is aware that the orange growers are facing problems due to receding ground water level in the country including Maharashtra, if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the orange growers have urged for digging of community water tanks for storage of runoff water, if so, the reaction of the Government thereto;

(d) whether the Government is extending any help to the farmers in getting remunerative prices for their produce and if so, the details thereof; and

(e) whether the Government of Maharashtra has sent a proposal for increasing post-harvest management and marketing subsidy amount and the budget for community water tanks, and if so, the details thereof and the action taken by the Union Government thereon?

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

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(a): As per Final Estimates 2018-19, total acreage of land under Orange (Mandarin Orange/Kinnow) in the country is 4.69 Lakh Hectare. Major states involved in Orange production are Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana.

(b): Indian Council of Agricultural Research - Central Citrus Research Institute, Nagpur, has intimated that the Orange growers of Maharashtra are facing problems of water shortage and ground water levels are going down, in districts of Amrawati, Nagpur, Latur, Jalna, Osmanabad, Parbani and Aurangabad.

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Government of Maharashtra has intimated that in Nagpur division, an area of 8644.73 Hectare was affected in last summer season due to shortage of water.

(c): Under Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), 100% assistance is provided for digging Community Tanks with lining. Government of Maharashtra has reported that 353 community tanks were dugout under from 2014-15 to 2018-19.

(d): Under Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) scheme, farmers are mobilised into Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) for aggregation and economies of scale. Efforts are being made to link FPOs to market by way of direct marketing farmer consumer markets/Apni Mandi and e-markets. Assistance is also provided for development of Post Harvest Management and Marketing infrastructure such as Cold Storages, Cold Room, Packing and Grading House, Reefer vehicles, Primary and Wholesale Markets, Kisan Mandis, etc. Farmers are also made aware of the processing facilities/mega food parks nearby and processable varieties of Horticulture Crops.

Besides, Government is promoting scientific storage facilities in rural areas of the country through the scheme of “Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure (AMI)”, which is a demand driven with back ended credit linked subsidy scheme, under which assistance is available to individuals, Group of farmers/growers, Registered Farmer Produce Organizations (FPOs) etc.

Further, to provide better marketing facilities for farmers, the Government is implementing National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) scheme for transparent price discovery for remunerative prices for the farmers for their produce through competitive online bidding system. So far, 585 wholesale regulated markets of 16 States and 02 UTs have been integrated with e-NAM platform.

(e): Mission for integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) was approved for continuation upto 31.03.2021, co-terminus with 14th Finance Commission periods. Hence, the existing rates of assistance under various components of MIDH including Post Harvest Management (PHM), Marketing and Community Tanks would continue upto 31.03.2021.


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