Dist-specific target for crop diversification in Haryana

Nitish Sharma

Tribune News Service

Ambala, June 4

To wean farmers off the paddy cultivation and promote crop diversification, the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has fixed district-specific targets for varied crops under the “Mera Pani Meri Virasat” scheme.

The department plans to cover 2 lakh acres with crops such as cotton, maize, arhar, moong, vegetables and oilseeds for this kharif season.

It has added new crops such as moth, urd, soyabean, guar, til, groundnut, castor, kharif onion, and kharif fodder crops. This year, the state government has dropped bajra from the list.

The target is to sow maize in 11,991 acres, cotton in 1,10,850 acres, pulses in 1,260 acres, oil seeds in 2,000 acres, fodder in 43,900 acres, and vegetables in 30,000 acres across the state. The target of each crop is different for every district because of different agro-climatic conditions.

Farmers will be given an incentive of Rs 7,000 per acre if they opt for crop diversification.

Only those farmers, who had cultivated paddy last year and want to opt for other crops, and those who want to continue with crop diversification for the second year on the trot will be eligible for the financial aid, which will be given in two instalments.

The incentive will also be given to those farmers, who had cultivated paddy last year and will keep their fields fallow this season.

Girish Nagpal, Deputy Director (Agriculture), Ambala, said: “The groundwater has been depleting at an alarming rate. So it becomes mandatory to shift from traditional crops such as paddy and wheat to maize, pulses and oilseeds.”