Tamil Nadu - Salem   

4.3 lakh hectares brought under SRI plan

Photo: E. Lakshmi Narayanan

Healthy trend: Agriculture Minister Veerapandi S. Arumugam inspecting the paddy crop cultivated under System Rice Intensification method in Chandirapillai Valasu, near Salem, on Monday. —

SALEM: A healthy 20 per cent of the State’s total paddy coverage area of 21.5 lakh hectares has been brought under the System Rice Intensification (SRI) programme, said Agricultural Minister Veerapandi S. Arumugam.

After eliciting farmers’ views on the advantages of the SRI scheme being introduced in the remote Thumbal village falling under the Upper Vellaru River Water and Land Development Programme of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in Salem district, on Monday, the Minister while talking to reporters said the coverage under the SRI during 2006-07, the first year of experimentation was a mere 4,638 hectares.

Next year it was increased to 11,320 hectares.

“And today we have brought a staggering 4.3 lakh hectares under the scheme in the total paddy coverage area of 21.5 lakh hectares. It is quite laudable,” Mr. Arumugam said.

The increase in the area coverage, he said, would ensure an increased food production too. “If the agriculturists come forward to adopt this technology totally, which has been revolutionising the paddy farming today, the entire rice needs of Tamil Nadu can be met. We need not outsource it,” he pointed out.

The food production target for this year was fixed at 95 lakh tonnes.

To forge a direct one-to-one contact with the stakeholders the Department of Agriculture had been revamped and modified from three-tier system of functioning to two-tier system.

“We ensure transparency in all spheres of our functioning so that the farming being faced by today’s myriad problems is completely modernised and ensures livelihood,” he said. Along with the Minister, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University Vice-Chancellor C. Ramasamy, Collector N. Mathivanan and other senior officials also interacted with the farmers at Thumbal village.

Earlier, they also visited the fields. The scheme assured 50 per cent of additional yield compared to the ordinary paddy cultivation with less seeds, water and manual labour.

Twenty-eight districts had been brought under its scheme, including the delta districts where the enthusiasm among the farmers was high. As such the Government was providing subsidies to the farmers to popularise the scheme.

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