CPCT Test 2
15 min30 WPM required609 words
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The agriculture sector in Madhya Pradesh has undergone a remarkable transformation over the past two decades, driven by expanded irrigation, improved seeds and inputs, better access to credit, and favourable government policies, with the state emerging as one of the country's leading producers of wheat, soybean, gram, masoor, urad, and several horticultural crops and becoming a net exporter of agricultural commodities to other states and to international markets. The expansion of irrigation infrastructure has been the single most important factor in this agricultural transformation. The Narmada canal network, which carries water from the Indira Sagar, Omkareshwar, and Maheshwar dams on the Narmada river to command areas in Khandwa, Khargone, Dewas, and Sehore districts, has brought assured irrigation to hundreds of thousands of hectares of agricultural land that previously depended on unreliable monsoon rainfall for cultivation. The Rajiv Sagar and Bansagar reservoir projects on tributaries of the Narmada system have similarly expanded irrigation in Satna, Rewa, and neighbouring districts of the Vindhya plateau. The cumulative effect of these irrigation investments has been to enable farmers in newly irrigated areas to shift from single-crop rainfed cultivation to double-crop and in some cases triple-crop irrigated cultivation patterns, substantially increasing their agricultural income and their resilience to rainfall variability. The adoption of high-yielding and hybrid seed varieties developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and state agricultural universities has been a major contributor to yield improvements across all major crops, with wheat yields in particular showing dramatic increases as new varieties adapted to the agro-climatic conditions of Madhya Pradesh were developed and disseminated through the seed production and distribution system. Balanced use of chemical fertilizers combined with organic manure according to soil health card recommendations has improved fertilizer use efficiency while reducing the risk of soil nutrient imbalances and environmental contamination from over-fertilization. The government's Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana price stabilisation scheme, introduced in 2017, provides direct price difference payments to farmers when they sell specified crops at market prices that fall below the state-declared minimum support price, protecting them from the income volatility that has historically led to distress selling and debt accumulation during periods of poor market prices. The scheme covers major kharif and rabi crops and has provided significant income protection to farmers during years of market glut when prices crashed below the cost of cultivation. The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi transfers an annual income support payment of six thousand rupees in three equal instalments directly into the bank accounts of all eligible farmer households holding cultivation rights over agricultural land, providing a predictable and unconditional income floor that supplements agricultural earnings regardless of crop prices or output levels. The Mukhyamantri Krishak Jivan Kalyan Yojana provides compensation to farming families in cases where the farmer or a member of the farm household suffers accidental death or permanent disability during agricultural operations, acknowledging the physical risks of agricultural work and the economic vulnerability of farming families when earning members are incapacitated. Farmer producer organisations have been actively promoted by the state government as a vehicle for collective action that enables small and marginal farmers, who individually lack the bargaining power and scale to access premium markets, to pool their produce, share the costs of post-harvest processing and storage, negotiate better prices with traders and processors, and access government schemes and bank credit on better terms than they could individually. The state agriculture department operates a network of krishi vigyan kendras and extension offices that provide technical guidance to farmers on best practices in crop production, pest and disease management, soil health, water use efficiency, and post-harvest management, translating agricultural research into practical advice that farmers can apply in their fields.