Tamil Nadu - Thanjavur   

Agricultural extension services being reformed

THANJAVUR: The State government has embarked upon reforming the agriculture extension services as part of the measures to upgrade the agriculture sector which is in crisis, said Surjeet K. Chaudhry, Principal Secretary and Special Commissioner, Agriculture Department here on Sunday.

He told presspersons that the reforms would encompass all departments Agriculture, horticulture, seed certification, etc. Computer-enabled extension service has been introduced at the block level. Two assistant directors of agriculture would function from the block with six or seven assistant agriculture officers. To improve marketing, a Deputy Director of Agriculture for agri-business has been appointed at the district level.

Largescale promotions have been given to boost the morale of the officers and improve performance. A total of 5,633 Agriculture department officials have been promoted. Services of 2,239 officers have been regularised. New recruitments have also been made.

Besides strengthening the department nearly Rs.2,869 crore worth of schemes under various programmes like National Agriculture Development Programme, National Horticulture Mission, Watershed management, Food security have been implemented in the state.

He said that a team of officials - C. Kosalaraman, Commissioner of Agriculture, S. Balachandran, Additional Secretary, Atul Anand, Director of Agriculture, Marketing, Chandra Mohan, Director of Horticulture, along with him visited various places in Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts in the past couple of days and involved in a fact finding task, i.e., whether the programmes reached farmers.

“I visited the seed farms at Thyagarajapuram and Chakramangalam in Koradachery union, Nedumbalam and Kiranthi in Thiruthuraipoondi union in Tiruvarur district on Saturday. Nedumbalam and Kiranthi farms are doing well while performance is poor at Thyagarajapuram and Charamangalam. While we appreciated the officials at Nedumablam and Kiranthi farms, we kept under suspension S. Panneerselvam, Assistant Agriculture Officer of Thyagarajapuram farm for giving wrong facts about cultivation under the System of Rice Intensification,” Mr. Chaudhry said. The plan this year is to raise samba and kuruvai crops on 21.5 lakh hectares in the State, Chaudhry said.

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