Farmers participating in the monthly agriculturists’ grievances redressal day meeting at the Collectorate here on Friday complained that the ATMA (Agriculture Technology Management Agency) scheme is not being implemented properly in Vellore district for the last two years.
A farmer of Kaniyambadi block said that ATMA, under which various training workshops on modern agricultural practices and water management methods, was conducted for farmers. It was functioning well from 2007 to 2012.
But no training programme was held since 2013. Another farmer who was the director of the ATMA committee in Pernambut said that the committees in the district consisted mainly of politicians, and hardly any farmers in some. He urged the Collector to intervene and revive the ATMA scheme in Vellore district.
R. Jayasundar, Joint Director of Agriculture said that even at the meeting on Friday, aids under ATMA were distributed to beneficiaries. To this, a farmer said that the selection of beneficiaries was not proper.
The Joint Director said that steps would be taken to rectify the mistakes.
Borewells
C.K. Dhanapal, president of the Vellore District Farmers Association, said that the rules stipulating payment of Rs.5000 to the village panchayat by those desirous of sinking borewellswould seriously affect the poor.
He said that owners of abandoned borewells could be prosecuted. But innocent farmers should not be asked to pay such a heavy amount, he said.
Another farmer said that the rule which required a farmer wanting to sink a new borewell to obtain permission from the village panchayat president may act against him if the president happened to belong to a different political party than that of the applicant.
R. Nanthagopal, Collector of Vellore district said that the rules were framed by the government at the state level in order to prevent accidents such as the one that occurred in Koorambadi.
The government has allotted Rs.20 crore for drought relief in Vellore district, of which Rs. 5 crore has been allocated to Vellore Corporation.
G. S. Purushothaman, president, Organic Farming Organization (OFO), Vellore said that the seeds of the Indigo crop, which is a manure crop, and other manure crop seeds should be sufficiently stocked in the agricultural depots and distributed on a subsidy to the farmers under the National Agricultural Development Programme.
He wanted the district administration to arrange for training to the farmers and women’s self-help groups on organic farming and production of vermin-compost.
The Collector agreed to arrange for the training at the Exnora-OFO training centre in Fort Round Road, Vellore.
