The Horticulture department would promote cultivation of horticulture crops in about 100 hectares each in Pudukottai and Thanjavur districts this year under the Rainfed Area Development Programme of the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA).
The programme would be implemented in three clusters in Pudukottai district and two in Thanjavur district. In Pudukottai district, clusters of 35 hectares each would be promoted in Tiruvarankulam and Gandharvakottai blocks and 30 hectares in Pudukottai block. In Thanjavur district, the programme would be implemented in Thanjavur and Orathanadu blocks.
Sources in the Horticulture Department said that ₹21.24 crore has been allotted under the programme for Tamil Nadu during the current financial year.
Under the initiative, farmers would be encouraged to raise horticulture crops adopting integrated farming approach. Selected farmers would get up to ₹25,000 a hectare as subsidised inputs and grant.
Farmers would be given saplings or nurseries of fruit crops, inputs such as organic fertilizer and vegetable seeds worth ₹2,000 to be planted as inter-crop. They would also be extended subsidy for erecting green houses and shade nets.
Officials in the Department of Horticulture said that farmers would also be provided training in latest technologies to be adopted in raising the crops. Technology demonstrations will also be organised.
Selection of beneficiaries was currently underway. Collectors A. Annadurai (Thanjavur) and S. Ganesh (Pudukottai) have called upon interested farmers to approach the office of the Deputy Directors of Horticulture in the respective districts to apply for the scheme.
In Pudukottai district, the programme was implemented in two clusters in Arimalam and Ponnamaravathy last year and in three clusters the year before in Annavasal and Viralimalai blocks, officials said and the response from the farmers was good.
