Karnataka   

State to encourage organic farming

BANGALORE: The Government is embarking on a major plan to encourage organic farming in the State, and Thursday’s budget is expected to have an allocation of funds for this.

The State will have a full-fledged wing to monitor organic farming. Experts in agriculture and horticulture and agricultural scientists are being roped in under the plan. A sum of Rs. 100 crore is expected to be set apart for organic farming, including a scheme to motivate farmers to adopt organic farming techniques.

Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa told The Hindu here on Wednesday that his third budget would be markedly different from the ones that he had presented over the past two years when he was Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister in the H.D. Kumaraswamy Government.

He said, “Every sector will have an enhanced allocation. Even funds for the development of backward areas will be substantially high.”

Though the Nanjundappa Committee report on regional imbalances was submitted to the Government over a decade ago, “I was the first to make an allocation of Rs. 1,571 crore in the budget for 2007-08 [based on its recommendations]. However, a major part of this allocation remained unutilised following the imposition of President’s Rule in the State in November last. Apart from an enhanced allocation, the Government will set up a monitoring committee to oversee the implementation of development work, particularly those in the Hyderabad-Karnatak region.” With reference to organic farming and chemical fertilizers, the Chief Minister said the shortage of complex fertilizers in the State as of now was nearly 1.5 lakh tonnes. Farmers were again making a beeline to fertilizer depots after the good rainfall in most parts of the State over the past three days.

“I call upon the Opposition parties to work with the Government in exerting pressure on the Union Government to make available adequate fertilizers to the State. There cannot be politics in matters concerning the State, the farmers, etc. Let us all work together. I am ready to join the Opposition parties in staging a dharna on the fertilizer issue,” he said.

“We have to go back to the old ways of cultivation. Following the shortfall in foodgrains production, the Union Government, in the 1970s, encouraged farmers to use chemical fertilizers by supplying such fertilizers at a subsidised rate. This has not merely destroyed the soil but has also proved to be harmful in many ways. There is a shortage of chemical fertilizers not merely in Karnataka but across the country,” he said.

On the development of infrastructure, particularly in Bangalore, Mr. Yeddyurappa said the Government had decided to go in for public-private partnerships in a big way. “We do not have the requisite funds. There are many private companies willing to work with the Government. I have decided to opt for this initiative in infrastructure development.” The budget session of the legislature will end on July 31. The session is expected to be stormy given the manner in which five legislators of the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) have resigned their Assembly membership to cross over to the Bharatiya Janata Party. Three of them have since been inducted as Ministers.

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