Karnataka - Gulbarga   

Agriculture growth target for Gulbarga set at 4.5 p.c.

GULBARGA: Gulbarga district has set an ambitious target of achieving a growth rate of 4.5 per cent during the 11th Plan period in overall agriculture development by increasing agriculture production and productivity.

The first-ever District Comprehensive Plan for Agriculture prepared by the Department of Agriculture and the Zilla Panchayat, in coordination with the Institute for Social and Economic Change and the University of Agriculture Sciences, Dharwad, notes that growth rate in the agriculture in the district has been almost static in 9th and 10th Plan period with a growth rate of 2.1 per cent in the 9th Plan period and 2.7 per cent during the 10th Plan period.

The report, which is available with The Hindu, has chalked out specific strategies to achieve the ambitious target with the necessary support to agriculturists from agriculture and allied departments and the University of Agriculture Sciences for transferring the latest technology in agriculture and new varieties and high yielding crops from the laboratory to the land.

The plan proposes an integrated approach for the development of agriculture and allied sectors with a proposal to spend Rs 524.22 crore spread over the five-year plan period.

Highest amount of the proposed action plan will be invested in minor irrigation programmes (29.22 per cent), watershed development programmes (19.81 per cent), followed by agriculture marketing (13.45 per cent), agriculture (8.27 per cent), horticulture (6.87 per cent), Red Gram Development Board (6.08 per cent) and other sectors.

The strategies framed in the comprehensive development plan include supply of certified seeds and use of organic manures, use of micro nutrients and following inter-cropping system, expansion of area under cultivation through reclamation of soil as well as adoption of integrated pest management, integrated nutrient management, integrated dry farming management techniques and cropping intensification.

A thorough study of all the 10 taluks in the district has been done on SWOT analysis, and specific strategies have been fixed for taluks based on their soil quality, fertility, agro climatic conditions, topography, natural vegetation, cultivation skills and irrigation potential. These taluks have been classified as vibrant growth taluks, medium growth taluks and poor growth taluks.

Shahapur, Surpur and Yadgir have been identified as vibrant growth taluks, while Aland, Gulbarga and Chincholi have been identified as medium growth taluks and Afzalpur, Jewargi, Chitapur and Sedam have been identified as poor growth taluks.

The comprehensive development plan has attached special attention to the development of red gram, which is the basic crop of the farmers in the district and high value food crop of the region.

The increase in the area under irrigation will also help the farmers in taking up the diversification of the crops to high value crops such as sugarcane, Bt Cotton and paddy.

The proposes to introduce innovations in agriculture practices and use of the latest innovations using tissue culture, genetic engineering biotechnology practice in agriculture, and other methodologies to improve the yield and make agriculture a profitable avocation.

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Agriculture growth target for Gulbarga set at 4.5 p.c.

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