The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Let farmers feel your presence, officials told

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 18, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Let farmers feel your presence, officials told

Special Correspondent

Form teams to monitor distribution of seeds: Minister

BANGALORE: "Farmers will not feel your absence even if we close down the Agriculture Department for five years from tomorrow because your presence is not felt at the field level. You have to make your presence felt at the field level by working actively," Agriculture Minister Bandeppa Kashempur told officials of his department on Tuesday.

At a State-level conference on `Kharif Campaign - 2007' organised by the department here, he lashed out at the officials for distancing themselves from farmers. He told them to go to farmers' fields to learn about their problems as well as ground-level requirements.

`Implementing agency'

"Our department has been reduced to a mere scheme-implementing agency," the Minister observed. Though the main responsibility of the officials was to help farmers solve problems related to farming, they were concentrating only on implementation of schemes such as distribution of bullock carts and tractors, he said. He offered to set up a separate agency for implementation of these schemes if the officials found it difficult to focus on both areas.

The Minister did not spare even experts at University of Agricultural Sciences. "You people try to find a solution to plant diseases only after farmers suffer heavily. What prevents you from anticipating these problems and being ready with a remedy in advance," he asked.

Teams to be formed

He directed the Commissioner for Agriculture to constitute a team of five deputy directors of agriculture to monitor the distribution of subsidised seeds and also to conduct surprise inspections. Karnataka was offering the highest subsidies on seeds, he said.

He warned that action would be initiated against officials and seed companies if substandard seeds were distributed under the subsidy scheme.

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