Manu Vikas, a voluntary organisation in Siddapur taluk plans to construct 600 tanks for irrigation and distribute 25,000 saplings to help farmers have an alternative source of income under the Betta Development Scheme.
Ganapati Bhat, convener of the organisation, said in a release on Wednesday that 100 of them would be mini tanks. The organisation would set up 500 self-help groups and provide funds to them to install ovens and to encourage cultivation of paddy as per SRI method this year, he said.
The organisation had so far constructed 950 small tanks at the cost of Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 10,000 each benefiting 2,500 acres of agricultural land belonging to 1,500 farmers. It supplied learning aids to 500 schoolchildren and scholarships to 500 others. It had also set up 400 self-help groups and distributed 25,000 fruit bearing plants to farmers, Mr. Bhat added.
