Begin typing your search...
Kuruvai package doubled to 115 crore
Just as the stateis on course to miss June 12 schedule to release water from the Stanley Reservoir in Mettur for the seventh year in a row, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Friday announced a comprehensive package at a cost of Rs 115.67 crore to help farmers of the delta region to take up cultivation of Kuruvai (shortterm). It may be recalled that last year announced a Rs 56 crore package
By
migrator
migrator
Chennai
In a first for such a Kuruvai package, the farm workers were also factored in to provide them necessary employment opportunities. They would be roped in to desilt channels and form farm ponds, among others, under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS).
Ninety per cent subsidy for solar pumps offered as part of the package might well look as a lucrative proposition. However, farmers looking to avail this benefit would have to withdraw their application for power supply from the TANGEDCO.
For farmers, who are yet to avail power supply, he said the state would provide a backend subsidy of 50 per cent for diesel engines and that the aspiring beneficiaries should apply through the Uzhavan App.
Revealing further details, the CM said the 3-phase power supply provided for 12 hours which is in vogue for the past 6 years in the Delta region would continue and 15,857 quintals of high-yield paddy varieties in an expanse of 79,285 acres is expected to be grown this season.
To increase the efficiency in cultivation by using machinery, as many as 810 power tillers and 860 rotary weeders would be distributed at a subsidy of 50 per cent.
The package also provides for cent per cent subsidy up to Rs 4,000 per acre for machine cultivation and paddy micro nutrient mixture would be provided at 50 per cent subsidy for 40,000 acres which require nourishment.
While backend subsidy is envisaged for lands which lack zinc and gypsum, the other initiatives under this package encourage farmers to opt for high-yield variety of pulses which require less water and to subsidise sprinkler irrigation at 75 per cent.
Improving soil fertility and increasing cultivation area by thrift use of underground water by subsidising PVC pipes, are also being carried out.
Palaniswami urged the farmers to make use of the offerings in Kuruvai package as means to get higher yield while taking up cultivation of paddy and pulses like they had managed to pull off producing 5 lakh metric tonnes of paddy in 2016, and the yield in 2012 stood at 2.3 lakh metric tonnes.
Visit news.dtnext.in to explore our interactive epaper!
Download the DT Next app for more exciting features!
Click here for iOS
Click here for Android
Next Story
