India: Puducherry earns best small State in agriculture sector award
The Union Territory has been adjudged the best small State in the agriculture sector in a nation-wide survey, thanks to its steady advances in the cultivation of paddy, sugarcane and banana crops.
Puducherry scored over about 11 other small States in a range of agriculture-related parameters such as aggregate contribution to State Domestic Product, size of cultivable area under paddy and sugarcane, status of cash crop cultivation and best agricultural practices in mechanisation, pest and disease management.
The award for 2013-14 was instituted by India Today based on a survey of States in various areas of performance such as governance, education, agriculture, health and infrastructure.
R. Mihir Vardhan, Agriculture Secretary, recently received the award from Union Minister of IT and Communication Ravi Shankar Prasad at the State of the States conclave in Delhi hosted by the publication. The Puducherry Government has attributed the award to the hard work of farmers and supportive measures of the administration. It hoped the recognition spur farmers, officers and other stakeholders to perform even better in future.
According to A. Ramamurthy, Director, Agriculture, some of the biggest achievements in agriculture include raising paddy yield from 4.5 to 5 tonnes per ha about three years ago to 6 to 6.5 tonnes per ha now. The mill average yield from sugarcane of about 39 tonnes per acre was well above the national average of about 33 tonnes.
“Puducherry is also a pioneer in end-to-end farm mechanisation from field preparation through to harvest for its major crops,” he said.
Farmers are encouraged to use organic pesticides and resort to chemical pesticides only as the last line of defence as part of propagating Best Practices, the Director said.
The UT currently has about 26,000 ha of gross area under paddy cultivation, about 3,000 ha under sugarcane, 200 ha under banana crops and 400 ha under vegetable cultivation.
However, one area that Puducherry needs to work on is achieving self sufficiency in vegetable cultivation. The UT relies heavily on Bangalore and Chennai for its vegetable needs, agriculture officials said.
Source: thehindu.com
