The Hindu : Karnataka News : Rs. 200-cr. plan to boost horticulture output

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 17, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Others

Rs. 200-cr. plan to boost horticulture output

H.S. Narasimha Kumar

National Horticulture Mission to be implemented by July end; district-level action plan to be evolved

DAVANGERE: The State Horticulture Department is giving final touches to an ambitious programme under the National Horticulture Mission of the Centre. The Rs. 200-crore programme is likely to be implemented by the end of July, according to a senior official of the department. Priority will be given to research, technology promotion, procession and marketing.

Action plan

The joint directors and the deputy directors of the department have been asked to prepare a five-year action plan. They have been asked to identify non-governmental organisations (NGO) in their respective areas.

The NGOs should have good network at taluk level, experience in the field of agriculture, horticulture and allied fields, their accounts should be audited every year, and they should possess sufficient manpower.

Every district in the State may be given Rs. 2 crores to Rs. 10 crores depending on the action plan and area of cultivation.

The strategy is to adopt "end-to-end" approach, covering production, post-harvest management, processing and marketing so that farmers get good returns. Improvements in productivity and value addition will be given special thrusts in the mission programme.

The mission is aimed at bringing more areas under horticulture plantations, improving seeds or saplings, fertilizers and pesticides to improve horticulture production, providing latest technology to farmers, including high-tech horticulture, precision farming, and improved irrigation, particularly micro-irrigation.

The mission envisages coordinated approach and promotion of partnership on the lines of the National Dairy Development Board to ensure support and adequate returns to farmers.

A State-level agency will be set up in Bangalore to monitor the implementation of horticulture mission. Committees will be formed at the district level to implement the programme.

They will be headed by the chief executive officers of the respective zilla panchayats with joint director of industries, the deputy registrars of the Cooperation Department and the district marketing officers as members. The deputy directors of horticulture will be the member-secretary. The deputy directors should conduct a threadbare "benchmark survey" in their respective districts such as data on geographic and demographic features, meteorological and agro-ecological features, cropping pattern, production and productivity, farm practices and mechanisation, manure, fertilizers, tools and equipment, credit institutions and research and development facilities.

After the benchmark survey, district project plan should be prepared in pursuance with mission guidelines for five years with physical and financial break-up for every year.

The programme encourages effective transfer of technology. Keeping in mind the low productivity of fruits like mango, citrus, coconut and cashewnut because of small size of the holdings, it is proposed to take up productivity improvement programmes.

Integrated nutrient management, integrated pest management, and use of honeybees as agents of cross-pollination are the features of the mission.

Parashivamurthy, Deputy Director of Horticulture, said the approval for district action plan is expected in a few days.

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