In a bid to help farmers double their earnings and maintain fertility of land throughout the year, the Central and State governments have announced a number of schemes and subsidies, said Collector Dinesh Ponraj Oliver here on Sunday.
Interacting with farmers at Ariyanendal village near Paramakudi, he said the district had wide coverage of paddy crop. After harvest, a majority of farmers left their land dry and carried out farming activities only during the next season. Hence, the governments had announced sops that would encourage them to take up farming post-paddy harvest.
In one such incident, a farmer in the district raised corn in his field. As a motivation, he was given ₹30,000 as subsidy. Moreover, field staff led by Assistant Director (Agriculture) shared techniques on growth stages of the commodity since farmers were familiar only with paddy.
Similarly, in Bogalur village, Mr. Ponraj was informed by a farmer that he was using a technique that would give him higher yield under system rice intensification (SRI). The government gave ₹5,000 each to such farmers, Joint Director (Agriculture) K. Gunabalan said.
In Paramakudi, chilli farmers could utilise the integrated marketing committee’s space to use a grade separator and sell their produce directly to buyers without any middlemen. The gadgets were available to farmers who could use them as value addition, which might add up the selling price, said Deputy Director (Agriculture) S.S. Shaik Abdullah.
In all, about 100 farmers in the district benefitted from the schemes and raised alternative crops after harvest.
The Collector urged the officials to rope in more farmers so that they could get enhanced income and also keep the soil fertile.
Under the kudimaramathu scheme, many tanks and ooranis helped in conservation of water, which coud be an added advantage to farmers to engage in farm activities. Besides, the State government offered subsidies to dig borewell and for drip irrigation, the officials said.
