Tamil Nadu - Nagapattinam   

“Adopt latest technology”

Advice: Surjit K. Chaudhary Principal Secretary, Agriculture, centre, addressing farmers in Nagapattinam on Saturday.

NAGAPATTINAM: Farmers should adopt latest technology in paddy cultivation and go in for the latest system of rice intensification (SRI) method of cultivation to achieve good paddy yield at lesser production cost, said Surjit K. Chaudhary, Principal Secretary to Government, Agriculture department, here on Saturday.

Addressing a special meeting of farmers’ representatives of Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur districts, Mr. Chaudhary said that the Agriculture Department had taken up the challenge to achieve higher growth rate in agriculture by implementing several development schemes and also propagation of relevant technologies to step up the production.

He suggested group farming system in the villages to save water, electricity, etc., to a great extent. He said that the Government had also released a subsidy of Rs.25 crore for purchase of farm implements under the National Agriculture Development Programme (NADP).

Mr. Chaudhary pointed out that the offices of the four departments of agriculture, agricultural engineering, agricultural marketing and horticulture would function under single roof and further stated that automatic weather stations were set up in all the blocks in the State. The Secretary said intensive integrated farming system, massive wasteland development programme, comprehensive watershed development activities, water management through micro irrigation systems, organic farming, soil health improvement through bio-fertilizers including green manuring, adoption of Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) technologies were given priority through various programmes. Besides, crop diversification to fetch better return and value addition to agricultural produce are also given priority to improve the economic status of the farming community, he added.

As many as 5,633 vacancies in the Agriculture Department were filled up and nearly 2,400 employees got promotion and elevated to higher cadre.M. Jayaraman, Collector, who presided over the meeting, explained the present situation of kuruvai paddy crop in the district and brought to the notice of the Secretary the problems of the farmers.

Leaders of farmers’ representatives including Arupathy Kalyanam, general secretary of the Federation of Farmers Associations in Nagapattinam, Thanjavur and Tiruvarur districts, K. Ambalavanan, progressive farmer, represented to the Secretary the need for procuring the TKM-9 paddy variety by the Government.

Earlier, Mr. Chaudhary with M. Jayaraman and other officials inspectedseed farms in the district, and said action had been initiated against officials and farmers for not following the norms in the seed farms.

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