The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Local bodies ignore farm sector

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Tuesday, Jan 08, 2008
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Local bodies ignore farm sector

N.J.Nair

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: While the government is making an all-out bid to increase the extent of paddy cultivation and develop agriculture sector in the State, local self-government institutions (LSGIs) have chosen to ignore the sector making meagre allocation in the first year of the Eleventh Plan.

The measly allocation of Plan funds has come at a time when the price of rice has touched an all-time high in the State. The State Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for soil, water resources, irrigation and watershed development, which scrutinised the Plan projects submitted by the LSGIs, said that out of the total Plan allocation of Rs.44.98 crore, the civic bodies apportioned only Rs.6.32 crore for crop management.

This included some new as well as spill-over projects of the previous years. Of the 913 projects submitted to the panel for scrutiny, 486 are new ones and 427 spill-over projects.

Food crops like paddy, vegetables, fruits, tubers, cash crops such coconut, pepper and plantation crops have not fond a significant place in the projects.

The Thiruvananthapuram district panchayat has 80 new and one spill-over project. It allocated Rs.63,78,759 for crop management and set a model worth emulating.

The civic bodies in Malappuram, Idukki, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts have chosen to totally ignore the sector and the allocation for crop management in Palakkad, Thrissur, Alappuzha, Wayanad and Kozhikode, which are known as agrarian districts, does not match the real demand to take up meaningful crop management projects.

Projects exceeding Rs.25 lakh only need to be sent to the State TAG’s clearance. Most of the project documents are too sketchy and do not have specific details to show that the infrastructure projects can complement agriculture development too.

The TAG proposed that at least 10 per cent of the funds apportioned for the productive sector should be utilised for developing basic facilities for crop management.

About 20 per cent of funds in the productive sector should be utilised for intensifying paddy cultivation. This was imperative for augmenting growth of agriculture sector. Civic bodies have been told to submit technical details for assessing the worth of their projects.

The panel has recommended to reduce the number of forms and make it more palatable for the preparation, assessing and implementing officers. Since the agriculture projects are all seasonal, steps should be taken to submit and examine the projects well ahead of the seasons. The subsidies and other financial assistance provided by the Agriculture Department too should be included in the project cost.

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