India: Crop area sees increase through gov. assistance

Deputy Director of the Horticulture Department, D.Manjunath told The Hindu here on Tuesday that the area under the Horticulture crops has gone up from 21,900 hectares last year to 23,461 hectares this year. This year the farmers have taken up cultivation of vegetables in 11,517 hectares, fruits in 7,556 hectares, spices in 2,990 hectares and floriculture in 946 hectares and medicinal plants in 21 hectares of land in the district this year.

Of the 23,461 hectares of land under the horticulture cultivation this year, 198 hectares of land in 32 villages in the district has been covered under the Comprehensive Horticulture Development Programme, providing assistance for the cultivation of watermelon, Papaya, Onion, Lemon, Sugandha Raj Flower, and Mango under the programme.

Mr. Manjunath said that with an intention to give a fillip to the horticulture cultivation in the district, the government has extended the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) to the district. The MIDH provides assistance to the farmers taking up horticulture cultivation with 50 per cent subsidy.

Under MIDH programme the farmers taking up cultivation of mango would get the assistance ranging from Rs. 6,000 to Rs. 24,000 for planting 100 to 1600 seedlings per hectare. Assistance for cultivation of grapes ranging from Rs. 25,680 to Rs. 30,000 for planting 625 to 3000 seedlings per hectare and it would be Rs. 11,500 to Rs. 17,000 for planting 400 to 660 pomegranate seedlings a hectare.

For Lemon and orange the assistance ranged from Rs 10,000 to Rs 19,000 for planting 270 to 1100 seedlings, Similarly for Banana and Papaya the assistance ranged from Rs 30,600 to Rs.40,000 for planting 3000 to 4400 seedlings a hectare, Mr. Manjunath said . Besides this the government was providing 90 per cent subsidy on drip irrigation for small and marginal farmers and 50 per cent for big farmers.

Source: thehindu.com