Assam aims double harvest with multiple cropping

Farmers in Assam,who have traditionally remained content with a single crop per year,now have reasons to go for two or more crops beginning the current rabi season

Farmers in Assam,who have traditionally remained content with a single crop per year,now have reasons to go for two or more crops beginning the current rabi season. The state Agriculture department has launched Mission Double Cropping,with the target being fixed at covering about 2.09 lakh hectares of land,currently under single cropping,in the first year.

We have clustered five ongoing schemes under this mission,under which we intend covering 6.99 lakh farmers in one year,beginning this rabi season. We are also looking at increasing the states cropping intensity from the existing 142 to 149 per cent in the next 12 months, Agriculture director Kabindra Borkakati said. The current all-India cropping intensity rate stands at 139 per cent,he added.

The five ongoing schemes that are being brought under one umbrella as Mission Double Cropping are Chief Ministers Grow More Vegetables programme,National Agricultural Extension Project III (NAEP-III),Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY),Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India (BGREI) and Disaster Management programme.

Story continues below this ad

Of a total cropping area of 28.10 lakh hectares,farmers here are currently utilising more than 16.22 lakh hectares for single cropping. This means that more than 58 per cent of Assams crop area is used for just one crop, said Agriculture minister Nilamani Sen Deka. With most of the other states into multiple cropping,a primarily agricultural state like ours cant afford to lag behind, Deka said.

With Mission Double Cropping being flagged off at a village in Sonapur recently,the Agriculture department has started distributing 6,700 quintals of mustard seeds,75,661 quintal potato seeds,8,500 quintal summer paddy (boro and early ahu) seeds,3,000 quintals pea seeds,10 quintal coriander seeds,1467.31 kg hybrid tomato seeds and 5150.13 kgs hybrid brinjal seeds to the farmers.

Of these,summer paddy (boro and early ahu) is being promoted in over 52,450 hectares under BGREI and disaster management programmes,while 80,000 hectares of crop area is earmarked for vegetables under NAEP-III. Mustard is one crop that has proved to be favourable to Assams land,and we have earmarked 67,000 hectares for mustard this rabi season, Borkakati informed. Of this,40,000 hectares are under RKVY and 27,000 under a disaster management scheme,he said. Land is not same across the state. And farmers cannot afford to overlap summer paddy with winter paddy. This has necessitated introduction of short-duration varieties, Borkakati added.

Assam Agricultural University has come out with new short-duration paddy varieties,suitable for double-cropping. While two varieties of boro paddy swarnabh and dinanath have been already introduced among farmers,two sali paddy varieties (ranjit and bahadur) have become favourites with farmers during the past few years.

India win hands down, skip the handshake with Pakistan

Sports50 min ago

Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav led his team to a dominant seven-wicket victory against Pakistan in the Asia Cup match, dedicating the win to the Armed Forces and mentioning the Pahalgam terror attack. Yadav's refusal to shake hands with the Pakistani players added to the intensity of the game. Despite the lack of drama, the match was action-packed.

View all shorts

Live Blog