Farmers encouraged to raise double crop

Farmers in the hilly areas of Kadambur and Gundri were encouraged to carry out double cropping in a year for optimum utilisation of their land. The State government had proposed to increase the total

Farmers in the hilly areas of Kadambur and Gundri were encouraged to carry out double cropping in a year for optimum utilisation of their land. The State government had proposed to increase the total crop area by 11.75 lakh hectares and also increase net cropped area from 60% to 75%. Also, it had emphasised on doubling the crop from the present 10 lakh hectare to 20 lakh hectare while it had targeted to achieve food production of 125 lakh tonnes. Hence, to check whether areas under cultivation in hill areas are accounted for, S. Chinnasamy, Joint Director of Agriculture, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department along with Deputy Directors A.N. Asaithambi (Farmers Training Centre) and R. Sivakumar, Assistant Directors Mariyappan and Manikandan inspected fields at Basunavapuram, Iruttipalayam, Karalayam, Gundri, Anilnatham, Mahalithotti, Makkampalayam and Arigiyam in the hills. Most of the land was located near the reserve forest area and farmers depend on rain for carrying out farming activities. Mr. Chinnasamy said that for the current year 2021-22, food production target has been fixed at 3.36 lakh tonnes and hence necessary steps were taken to achieve it. He said that during the summer rain in the hills, farmers cultivate gram varieties and ragi as a first crop that can be harvested within 90 days. “For rainy season, they cultivate other crops as a second crop”, he said and added that agriculture officers were asked to account for the crops. The team also inspected a drip irrigation system installed at a farm land at Arigiyam village.