P.B. Ramamurthy, district in-charge Secretary, has directed the officials of the departments of agriculture, horticulture and animal husbandry to work in coordination to mitigate the loss suffered by farmers owing to scanty rainfall in the district this year.
Mr. Ramamurthy was speaking at a meeting here on Thursday to review the implementation of various development schemes.
Joint Director of the Department of Agriculture K. Madhusudan told the meeting that owing to a severe shortfall in rainfall this year, the production of food grains was likely to come down by around 15 per cent. Mr. Ramamurthy said that farmers should be motivated to cultivate sunflower, millets, jowar and pulses that required less water, as summer crops. The department should maintain adequate stock of seeds of these crops and distribute them among farmers through raitha samparka kendras, he said.
Mr. Madhusudan said that 22 farmers had committed suicide in the district, since June this year. However, compensation had been paid to the family members of five farmers. Compensation would be paid to the remaining families after getting the report from the Forensic Science Laboratory, he said.
R.R. Ravindra, Deputy Director of Department of Animal Husbandry, told the meeting that the stock of fodder in the district would last for another two months. In all, 6,000 mini kits of seeds of fodder, including African tall grass, Sorghum and Bajra varieties, had been distributed among farmers in Sorab taluk, which had been declared as drought-hit. The department had planned to provide 2,000 mini fodder kits each to farmers in the remaining six taluks, he said.
Mr. Ramamurthy said that the existing government-infrastructure in the district to store food grains procured under minimum support price and the food grains allocated under public distribution system had been found inadequate. Therefore, food grains had been stored in private warehouses by paying hefty amount as rent. Possibilities of constructing warehouses in rural areas under public-private partnership model should be contemplated, he said.
Jayyappa, Deputy Registrar of Department of Cooperation, said that the government would extend financial assistance to Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) for the construction of warehouses in rural areas. The assistance would be up to 30 per cent of the total investment. The department would motivate the directors of PACs that enjoyed financial stability, to take up construction of warehouses, he said.
