50,000 acre fallow land to be given to farmers under Matir Shristi scheme

Kolkata: In its endeavour to help farmers the Bengal government introduced a new scheme Matir Shristi on Wednesday to help them use fallow land for income generating activities like horticulture among others in Paschimanchal districts, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday.

She said the districts where the scheme will be introduced are Bankura, Purulia, Birbhum, Jhargram, Paschim Burdwan and Paschim Midnapore. These districts are polularly known as Jangalmahal in administrative parlance. Under the scheme around 50,000 acres of fallow land will be used giving benefits to 2.50 lakh people.

The scheme will give stress on horticulture, fisheries and animal husbandary. All the government schemes in these sectors will be converged on these lands with Water Resources Investigation department (WRID) providing minor irrigation facilities. This is for the first time when steps have been taken to utilise the fallow land where agriculture is not possible.

The project will start with 10-20 acres of land belonging to the poor farmers. The government vested fallow land will also be included in the scheme. The owners of the land will form farmers' cooperative societies with linkage with the cooperative banks for funding. Women self help groups will be involved in the activities of these cooperative societies. The SHGs will help in the marketing of the produce. Funding will be done mostly through Mahatma Gandhi national Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme. In the Paschimanchal districts there are large chunks of fallow land where agricultural is not possible due to natural reasons but these land can be used for horticulture.

Various fruits like mango and pomegranate can grow on these land. It may be mentioned that the lepers who have recovered from the disease in Bankura are growing mangoes in the land close to the leper hospital under MGNREGA project. The annual income of per person has become anything between Rs 80,000 to Rs 1 lakh on an average.

The Panchayats and Rural Development department has already introduced a project called Ushar Mukti to help the farmers to grow orchards on fallow land. The project is very successful and has helped many families to become economically self reliant. The project

has given life to many local rivers that had dried up due to various reasons. Banerjee said: "The project will change the economic scenario of these districts and is the future of Bengal as many agro based industries will be set up in the districts once the projects start yielding results."