Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Grama panchayats told to take the lead

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With intra-departmental discord plaguing a project to enhance rice production through local self-government institutions, civic chiefs have been directed to get a move on their own, without waiting for the support of Agriculture Department.

Official sources told The Hindu that a section of Agriculture Department officials have been ignoring the project, which envisages utilisation of fallow land in panchayats for paddy cultivation, mainly due to lack of clear directions from the top officials. Hence, optimum utilisation of the sanctioned funds had become an arduous task.

Now, all the 999 grama panchayats have been directed to start paddy cultivation in at least 10 acres of land utilising the Rs.500-crore Plan funds.

It has been proposed to increase the extent of paddy fields every year so that the State becomes self-sufficient in rice production in three years.

With power decentralisation, krishi bhavans in grama panchayats, agriculture assistant director’s offices in block panchayats as well as the seed farms and district-level offices have been handed over to civic bodies.

The civic chiefs have also been directed to work out a watershed-based scheme to utilise the funds of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP) to develop lands of small and marginal farmers. Kudumbasree activists have also been told to play a more dominant role in lease-land farming.

Since 40 per cent of the Plan funds is being set apart for the farming sector, agriculture officers are officiating as Plan coordinators in grama panchayats.

A wide gamut of functions including construction of agriculture and seed farms, training of farmers, distribution of farm subsidy, soil testing, procurement of agriculture implements and seeds, supporting agriculture cooperative societies in production and marketing, have been entrusted with the panchayats. All these functions are expected to be executed by the Agriculture Department personnel.

The apparent inertia on the part of agriculture officers has come as a damper to the civic chiefs who have taken preliminary steps to launch the project. The sources said that civic chiefs have been told to ensure maximum cooperation of all sections, but they have also been told not to wait endlessly for the support of Agriculture Department.

A mechanism to guide them would be devised soon so that the project does not get bogged down for want of technical guidance, the sources said.

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