Centre urges southern states to fast-track schemes to boost farm sector

New Delhi: The Centre has urged the southern states to expedite the execution of Centrally Sponsored Schemes by ensuring timely fund allocation and addressing issues related to state contributions and Single Nodal Account (SNA) balances, an official statement said on Wednesday.

The issues were discussed as part of the Centre’s mid-term review, held in Visakhapatnam on November 18-19, of the implementation of agricultural schemes by the states.

The Union Agriculture Secretary led the team of Central officials at the review in which the states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Karnataka & Union Territory of Puducherry gathered in Visakhapatnam to evaluate the progress and address challenges in the effective implementation of these schemes, according to a statement issued by the Agriculture Ministry.

The Secretary emphasised the importance of operationalising SNA-SPARSH, returning unutilized balances and interest, and promptly submitting Utilisation Certificates (UCs). He also emphasized the importance of organising state-level conferences to address region-specific agricultural challenges, ensuring every state receives focused attention and support for their unique needs and assured that the Centre is very much a partner to them and will help them to ameliorate the conditions of farmers and expanding farming related activities in their respective states.

The participants were also familiarised with the Centre's new initiative - the Dharti Aaba Janajatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan (DA–JGUA) approved by the Union Cabinet and launched by the Prime Minister in September. All participants were urged to get onboarded in the scheme to strengthen the recognition process, empower tribal communities, and ensure their involvement in forest protection, conservation, and sustainable livelihoods through government support, the statement said.

The conference focused on improving the implementation of major schemes, including the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (PM-RKVY) and the Krishonnati Yojana (KY), where non-performing states were encouraged to enhance their efforts in the remaining months of the fiscal year. The states were also advised to finalize the annual action plan for FY 2025-26 by December to enable timely release of the first instalment by April 2025, aiming to reduce previous delays in fund utilization. The states were requested to spend the funds available with them as more spending would result in more allocation by the centre.

The states were also informed about the flexibility to reallocate funds within RKVY components and for formulating new projects under KY for FRA beneficiaries under DA-JGUA for the benefit of the poorest of the poor in the country.

The flexibility to spend money across schemes under the respective umbrella scheme was also explained to them in detail, according to the statement.

The Agriculture Secretary asked the states to aggressively work towards the farmers' registry as it is a one-time task but will reap insurmountable benefits to them for taking advantage of both Central and Centrally Sponsored Schemes.

The meeting also discussed high-priority topics, including the National Edible Oils Mission, NABL accreditation for laboratories under the Insecticides Act, efficient use of the Krishi Nivesh Portal, Carbon Credits, Namo Drone Didi, e-National Agriculture Market (e-NAM), Farmer Producer Organisations (FPO), Soil Health Card and Agricultural Infrastructure Fund (AIF) etc to foster sector growth, the official statement added.