Mandate & Function
The Directorate had been shifted from Delhi to Ghaziabad in 1977 and further to Lucknow in October 1995 and now functioning at Lucknow till date. Consequent upon reorganization of Commodity Development Directorates (CDD’s), the functions of the Crop Development Directorates were rationalized by the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India w.e.f. 21st June 1995 combining bifocal responsibilities viz. basic responsibility of “development of sugarcane at national level as Nodal Crop” and “Area Specific Functions for monitoring of schemes of DAC&FW in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand”. Functions & duties of the Directorate:
A. Nodal Crops (Sugarcane):
- to assist Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare to plan, coordinate and monitor crop development programmes at the National level and recommend measures to improve them;
- to assist the States/Union Territories to plan, formulate and implement the sugarcane programmes to increase production and productivity; to inter-act with National and State Institutions in planning the production of seeds/planting material;
- to liaise with Indian Council of Agricultural Research, State Agricultural Universities and Central Government Institutes for organizing training courses in improved production technology;
- to have closer inter-action/coordination with the Project Directorates/ Institutes and other Research Centres of the ICAR and representative of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare on their Management Committees and ICAR’s Regional Committees, with a view to benefit from research and improved production technology and assist the Ministry of Agriculture to formulate farmer friendly schemes with unified approach for the over-all development of agriculture sector as a whole;
- to keep in touch with research developments by Agricultural Universities, National and International Organizations and maintain the flow of information and ideas between research and development;
- to have a close liaison with National Institute of Management for Agricultural Extension (MANAGE), ICAR Institutes and State level extension agencies in identifying the areas where these Institutes can provide support and bridge the gap in increasing productivity of the nodal crop;
- to provide technical support to the Extension agencies with respect to the nodal crop as and when required. In this context the Crop Development Directorates organize/participate in the State Level Crop Training Programmes, Kisan Melas, Sugarcane Workshops/ conferences, providing literature on training manuals; and also periodically visit some such projects relating to their respective nodal crops and provide feedback to Extension Division;
- to participate in meetings of Zonal Research and Extension Advisory Committee (ZREAC) and have closer interaction/ coordination through this forum in relevant functions and responsibilities;
- to watch the new technologies evolved and performance of the newly released varieties of sugarcane for assisting to Ministry in brining under government subsidy programme;
- to study and analyze trends in weather, crop area, production and productivity as well as transport, marketing and to assist in fixing the State Advisory Price (SAP) ;
- to study and analyze trends in import, export and world’s sugarcane productivity to assist in preparation of policy and plan of sugarcane development in India ;
- to report regularly to Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare on weather and crop prospects as well as market and price trends;
- to assist Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare in fixing targets of production and suggest measures to achieve them;
- to build up relevant records and data for the nodal crop; and
- to serve as a Secretariat for the respective Crop Development Council.
B. Area Specific functions in the assigned states - Uttar Pradesh & Uttarakhand:
- to function as eyes and ears of Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare for all major crops produced in the assigned States and to function as ‘Area Office’ for these States;
- Monitoring and implementation of all central sponsored schemes of DAC&FW in assigned states, submission of annual/ quarterly progress report and arranging utilization certificate of implementing schemes executed by DAC&FW;
- to maintain liaison with ICAR Institutes, State Governments/ Departments and other line departments on crop development programmes;
- to monitor the crop programmes and report to Crops Division/States about gap between planning and performance;
- to monitor the availability of inputs and extension services;
- to regularly report to the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare on weather, crop prospects, storage , processing, movement and prices of crops harvested;
- As a representative of Government of India, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, in the Inter Ministerial Central teams to assess the damage due to floods, droughts and other natural calamities.
- to participate in Kharif /Rabi Conference, Zonal Seed meeting etc;.
- Water management - timely opening and closing of canals and water use efficiency;
- Assessment of inputs requirements-fertilizers, pesticides, seeds etc. for crops for obtaining optimal yields;
- Carrying out the field visits to assess the performances of Centrally Sponsored Schemes like NFSM, NMOOP, BGREI, RKVY, CDP etc.
- Tracking progress and promotion of new crop varieties;
- Act as a coordinator in National Level Monitoring Team (NLMT) under NFSM (Rice, Wheat, Pulses, Coarse cereals and Commercial crops) in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and BGREI in Uttar Pradesh.
- To prepare a Status note of Agriculture situations of the assigned states.
- To document and share the success stories of Centrally Sponsored Schemes.