State to take major leap forward in Horticulture arena

  • | Wednesday | 22nd April, 2015

The Chhattisgarh Government has set a target of having 35,000 hectares of land devoted to cultivation of Horticulture crops during the next three years. As per the action plan, the region to be devoted for Horticulture crops have been divided into Surguja, Bastar, Raipur, Durg and Bilaspur regions. Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal said that the regions have been divided considering climate, soil condition and geography of the respective regions.

The Chhattisgarh Government has set a target of having 35,000 hectares of land devoted to cultivation of Horticulture crops during the next three years. The Government has prepared an elaborate action plan to achieve the target. As per the action plan, the region to be devoted for Horticulture crops have been divided into Surguja, Bastar, Raipur, Durg and Bilaspur regions.

Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal said that the regions have been divided considering climate, soil condition and geography of the respective regions. He said that the government had been promoting cultivation of potato, Litchi, pineapple, strawberry and tomatoes in the northern parts of the State. Agrawal said that during the last financial year, the farmers of the northern region were offered grants for growing fruits in 3,000 hectares of land.

He said that during the coming years, the acerage under Horticulture crops will rise to 10,000 hectares. During 2014-15, the joint acreage under Guava, Litchi and Strawberry grew by 750 hectares. During 2014-15,  the acreage under Guava reached 20,292 hectares from 3,641 hectares in 2004-05.

Moreover, the State government’s Horticulture Department which is implementing a promotion scheme for the fruit had led to quantum jump in the area under guava cultivation in Chhattisgarh. Horticulture Department officials informed that a special action plan had been prepared for promotion of guava cultivation in the State. Under the scheme, the a target had been set to increase the guava cultivation to 3,000 hectares.

The guava varieties especially grown in Chhattisgarh are Lucknow 49, Allahabadi Safeda, Lalit and Keji. The regions in the forefront in guava cultivation are  Raipur, Durg, Dhamtari,Kawardha, Bemetara, Rajnandagon and Bilaspur districts. Chhattisgarh now has set a target of promoting cultivation of vegetables  in 4,425 hectares of land under National Horticulture Mission.

An amount of Rs175 crore had been earmarked for implementing its Annual Plan 2015-16 under National Horticulture Mission in Chhattisgarh. The annual plan was endorsed in a recent meeting of the 12th Working Committee of the State Horticulture Development Society chaired by Additional Chief Secretary of Agriculture Department Ajay Singh recently. The plan comprises a target for cultivating vegetables in an area of 4,425 hectares for which a provision of Rs15.

16 crore was proposed. A provision of Rs13.50 crore had been made to promote vegetable cultivation in the State.

A target of 2,500 hectares had been set for growing condiment based crops while a target of 2,240 hectares had been set for Floriculture . A provision of Rs4.50 crore had also been made for carrying out organic farming and Rs1.

52 crore for promotion of bee keeping.This apart, a provision of Rs1.12 crore had been made to develop new water sources.

Notably, the State embarked on an ‘Organic Farming Mission’ on an experimental basis in five districts of the State namely Kanker, Koriya, Raigarh, Raipur and Dantewada, officials said. The National Agriculture Development Scheme is being implemented since year 2007-08 with objectives of expanding cultivation area of fruits, vegetables and spice crops and supplying advanced high-quality seeds to farmers. Earlier under Shakhambari Scheme, subsidy was provided for only electricity and diesel based irrigation pumps but now farmers using petrol based irrigation pumps are also eligible for availing subsidy under this scheme, they stated.

Moreover, the Government had been providing free seeds and fertilizers to the tribal families holding forest rights certificates.The arrangements for free distribution of seeds and fertilisers have also been made. Agriculture Service Centres have been established in every development block of the State from where the farmers are provided agricultural equipments on rent.

Soon Soil Quality Card Distribution Scheme will also be started to inform the farmers about quality and type of soil in their farms. Under this scheme, soil quality cards will be distributed to all 37 lakh farmers of state in coming five years. The State Government`s `Kisaan Samriddhi Yojana` has also proved to be a boon for farmers.

Under this scheme, farmers are provided section-wise grant for tube-well digging. More than 75,000 farmers have been benefited under the scheme. State Government is operating number of other schemes, which have proved extremely beneficial for the farmers.

Besides cultivation, animal husbandry and fishery are the additional source of income for farmers. Hence, state government has included animal husbandry and fishery under its all-round agricultural development policy. With the help of government schemes, large number of farmers has taken up employment-oriented activities to march ahead on the path of progress.

To encourage farmers practicing traditional animal husbandry, State government started the scheme of providing loan upto Rs1 lakh at one per cent interest rate from the previous year.This year, the loan amount has been increased to Rs2 lakh. Considering tremendous prospects of further promoting litchi farming in Bilaspur district, Collector Siddarth Komal Singh Pardeshi in March this year had asked the officials of Horticulture Department to prepare a working plan for cultivation of litchi in Pendra block of the district.

During a meeting chaired by him, he said that Lalpur nursery in Pendra Road region yields good litchi crop. The environment and soil of this region is favourable for litchi cultivation. There is goods scope for getting better litchi crop output  he said.

He further asked the Department officials to prepare plans for cultivation of different kinds of fruits or flowers through which Bilaspur district could make its unique name. In Ratanpur flowers could be grown, in Takhatpur conditions are favourable for cultivating banana, Pardeshi suggested.  Deputy Director, Horticulture informed that in seven blocks of the district 315 hectares of mango farms have been developed.

About 393 farmers are taking benefits from the mango farms. In the same way under the berry top working programme, berry plants were grown in 9100 hectare that turned out beneficial for 1212 cultivators. The programs under National Horticulture Mission were also discussed in the meeting.

Meanwhile, the Chhattisgarh Government`s Drip Irrigation Scheme, Micro Irrigation Scheme and Sprinkler Scheme have greatly contributed in expanding the area of cultivation and yield of horticulture crops, officials stated.  Under Sprinkler Scheme, total 38,995 farmers were benefited whereas under drip irrigation scheme, 9,000 farmers were benefited. Last year, nearly 16.

98 lakh farmers received grants under various beneficiary-oriented schemes. Under Drip-Irrigation Scheme initiated in year 2005-06, subsidy of 75 per cent is provided to small and marginal farmers and that of 50 per cent is provided to big farmers for installation of drip instrument.  Till date, about 38,640 farmers have been benefited under Sprinkler Irrigation Scheme and nearly 7,126 farmers have availed the provisions of Drip Irrigation Scheme.

State-sponsored Micro-Irrigation Scheme was initiated in year 2102-13. The efforts of the Chhattisgarh government to convince farmers to even grow fruits and vegetables had already started paying dividends. The area under cultivation of vegetables has increased from 3.

13 lakh hectares to 3.51 lakh hectare, while production from the same has increased from 3.69 lakh metric tonnes to 4.

58 lakh metric tonnes so far, officials stated. This apart, under the scheme initiated to encourage small farmers engaged in vegetable cultivation on river banks, the State government also provides subsidy of Rs4700 per 0.4 hectare.

The State Government initiated two new schemes in year 2012-13 to increase the income of horticulture farmers. Moreover, the State government also provides subsidy of Rs13,500 for installation of drip-irrigation scheme in 500 sq metre in farms of BPL and marginal farmers, officials stated. In the year 2009-10, total area under cultivation of fruits in the State was 1.

47 lakh hectares and total production from the same was 12.14 lakh metric tonnes which increased to 1.85 lakh hectare and 15.

69 lakh metric tonnes respectively in year 2011-12. Chhattisgarh has great prospects for horticulture crops as well. To explore this potential, the State Government is providing every possible aid to the farmers for cultivation of fruits, vegetables and spices, officials stated.

Area of cultivation for horticulture crops has increased by eight times in last 10 years. In year 2003-04, the total area under cultivation of horticulture crops was 92 thousand 176 hectare, which increased to 7 lakh 25 thousand 29 hectare in year 2013-14. Agriculture has become an occupation of profit in Chhattisgarh.

Adhering to the motto of `Prosperous farmers — Prosperous Chhattisgarh`, State Government led by Chief Minister Raman Singh has laid a strong foundation of all-round agricultural development in state. Several beneficial schemes have been started to reduce the general input cost of cultivation. Implementation of such schemes has resulted in improved socio-economic status of farmers.

Number of schemes has also been started for farmers engaged in employment and extra-income generating practices like animal husbandry and fishery. Development of agriculture cannot be imagined without irrigation facility. State Government has implemented special action plan to expand the irrigation capacity of state.

Collective efforts of State Government have resulted in agricultural development along with significant improvement in lives of farmers. Chhattisgarh has bagged National Krishi Karman Award in year 2010 and year 2012 for highest production of rice. This proves that Chhattisgarh has actually become country`s `bowl of rice`.

     

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