The Hindu : Karnataka / Hassan News : Govt. to give thrust to jatropha cultivation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 11, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Hassan

Govt. to give thrust to jatropha cultivation

By Our Staff Correspondent

HASSAN, FEB. 10. The Government is planning to encourage farmers to cultivate jatropha in 11 dry-land districts across the State on the lines of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Three transnational companies have come forward to sign a buy-back agreement in this regard, and the Government will finalise which company will get the contract after the gram panchayat elections, the Minister for Horticulture, R. Srinivas, said.

Speaking to presspersons here on Thursday, Mr. Srinivas said that studies have shown that farmers growing jatropha will get a return of Rs. 14,000 an acre in the first year and the return will be around Rs. 24,000 by the fifth year.

The Government is planning to encourage farmers to cultivate jatropha in around 75,000 acres in the first year and the area will be doubled in the next two years. He said that Rs. 25 lakhs has been earmarked as subsidy for growing jatropha.

Federation

Divulging the plans of the department to form a Karnataka Horticulture Federation (KHF) by amalgamating the Horticulture Produce Cooperative Marketing Societies (HOPCOMS), on the lines of the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), he said that a Rs. 100-crore proposal has been drawn up to revive the HOPCOMS.

Answering a query on whether the formation of the KHF will be a competition for SAFAL, Mr. Srinivas said that while SAFAL is a National Dairy Development Board project, which is coming up in an area of 250 acres near Whitefield to help the growers in the area, KHF is a State Government project. A Rs. 6-crore pilot project of the KHF will also be launched in Hassan district, he added.

Food processing unit

Chipsona, a Rs. 179-crore food processing unit will be set up by the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) on the outskirts of Hassan. It is a joint venture of the Ministry of Food Processing, the Agriculture Produce Exports Development Agency (APEDA), the National Horticulture Board, the State Government, and Gold Prize Private Ltd., a United Arab Emirates-based company, he said.

A 300-acre farm in Somanahallikavalu farm belonging to the Department of Horticulture will be handed over to the company for the purpose, he added. To begin with, potato will be grown in an area of 1,000 hectares and it will be increased to 12,000 hectares later.

Jogger's park

A jogger's park will be developed on 5.30 acres at the Silver Jubilee Park and the existing nursery of the department will be shifted, Mr. Srinivas said.

There has been a 15 per cent increase in the area under horticultural crops in the State and the Government is planning to introduce legislation to control the supply of poor quality seeds, he said.

He added that there are plans to extend the crop insurance scheme to horticultural crops as well.

Though the department is promoting biotechnology in the interests of farmers, the Government is making all efforts to preserve traditional varieties by introducing an organic farming policy, Mr. Srinivas said.

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Govt. to give thrust to jatropha cultivation