Aimed at holistic development of agriculture in the State, the Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram district administrations launched a farmers-oriented integrated agricultural extension system, a revamp of training and visit system.
Collector T. Munusamy launched the system at Tirupachethi village panchayat in Tirupuvanam block on Monday. The system has been designed for closer interaction with farmers after farming grower clusters at all village panchayats in the district.
The system, announced by former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in the Assembly, was also aimed at helping the farmers to double crop production and triple their farm income by maintaining a closer interaction with agricultural officers, the Collector said. The system would be implemented in all the 445 village panchayats in Sivaganga district. Manamadurai MLA M. Gunasekaran, District Panchayat Union Chairman Shivdevkumar, Additional Director of Agriculture (Research) P. Sankaralingam and district agricultural officers participated in the function, an official release said.
Ramanathapuram
The system was launched in all the 11 blocks, an official release said. Deputy Directors of Agriculture R. Arivasan and S. Subramanian launched the system at Kazhugoorani village panchayat on Monday.
Under the system, the Assistant Agricultural Officers (AAOs) would form permanent commodity-based farmers’ groups at village levels and enlighten the farmers on the recent technological development and provide them with valuable inputs during field visits from Monday to Thursday in the first and third weeks of every month.
The AAOs would divide the village panchayats in the district among themselves and form the clusters, comprising 20 to 25 farmers for each crop in the villages. During the field visits, the Agricultural Officers would meet the demands of the farming community and help them double their farm production.
