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| Major Events Vol. 3 Issue No. 32 | August 1-15, 2007 |
Centre sanctions Rs 23 crore for NE agri devp The Union Government has taken up a mega project of Rs 23 crore for the overall development of agriculture in the North-East. Director General, Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) Dr Mangala Rai said an amount of Rs 23.06 crore has been allocated for seven districts in NorthEastern region under the ambitious National Agricultural Innovation Project. Tripura will receive Rs 6 crore for the implementation of the project in Dhalai district, he said adding that the research and education on agriculture will be stressed in North-Eastern States. He asked agriculture officials organize demonstration to improve skill of farmers and a total of 1,000 families of each selected district will be involved in it. The programme is scheduled to be kicked off in August next. “The entire programme will be coordinated in two clusters and in each cluster 500 families would take part,” he said. “The Union Government is keen to improve human resource development in the region and to achieve it, an amount of Rs 238 crore has been sanctioned for Central Agricultural University”, he said. The Director General, however, advised the State farmers to cultivate root crops, as the soil layer of this region is thick and very much productive. “The ICAR doesn’t promote jhum cultivation keeping in mind the rampant erosion of soil in hilly areas”, Dr Rai said. Replying to a question on soil erosion, he said that average rate of soil erosion in the country is as much as 16 tons per hectare annually. But, as he said, quality of soil is very good here and farmer can even grow ‘root crops’. Dr Rai, who arrived here to identify priority sector in 11th five year plan in Tripura, also hailed the performance of ICAR and State Agriculture department for adopting system of rice intensification (SRI) that has yielded good result in the State. |
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