The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : More land in arid zones to be farmed

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Friday, Mar 14, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

More land in arid zones to be farmed

Nagesh Prabhu

ICRISAT, CRIDA to provide expertise

State has an estimated dry-land area of 82 lakh ha
20 districts hit by drought every three to four years

BANGALORE: The State Government has decided to enter into an understanding with two Hyderabad-based agricultural institutes — International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA) — to bring more dry land under cultivation.

Frequent droughts

The State has an estimated dry-land area of 82 lakh hectares. Twenty districts experience drought every three to four years. Therefore, the Department of Agriculture decided to enter into an understanding with the two institutes in order to increase the area of cultivated land in the arid zones, an official of the department told The Hindu on Thursday.

In the first phase, the two institutes will offer expertise on conservation, efficient utilisation and enhancement of the quality of natural resources for increasing farm productivity in dry land in Gulbarga, Chitradurga, Tumkur and Chamarajanagar districts. As much as 12,000 hectares in Gulbarga district, 10,000 hectares each in Tumkur and Chitradurga districts and 5,000 hectares in Chamarajanagar district will be brought under cultivation in the coming kharif season, the official said.

Inputs to be offered

The institutes will offer inputs to increase productivity of land under toor dal crop in Chincholi, Chitapur and Afzalpur taluks in Gulbarga district, groundnut crop in Challakere taluk of Chitradurga district and Pavagada taluk of Tumkur district and maize crop in Chamarajanagar district. A strategy was being prepared to enhance productivity by 30 per cent in the four districts. Officials of the Watershed Development Department in Chitradurga and Tumkur districts, the Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVCs) of the University of Agricultural Sciences in Chamarajanagar district and the Toor Dal Board in Gulbarga district would be appointed as nodal officers for monitoring schemes, the official said.

Meeting held

Representatives of ICRISAT and CRIDA visited Bangalore on Wednesday and held a meeting with officials of the Agriculture Department to chalk out a plan for various activities to be executed in the next few years. Several schemes will be implemented from the next financial year to re-orient farm development strategies to revive the sector by providing technology and marketing facilities to farmers, the official said.

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