Agri dept stocks seeds for alternate farming in wheat blast affected areas
Kolkata: The state Agriculture department has ensured sufficient stock of seeds for alternate farming in January and February, at wheat blast affected areas in Nadia and Murshidabad.
Asish Banerjee, the state Agriculture minister, held a high level meeting at Hanskhali block in Nadia on Monday, in which senior district officials, representatives of Zilla Parishad and MLAs were present. He also visited a farm at the same block.
The initiative to keep the stock of seeds for cultivation in January and February has been taken so that farmers get the same on time and can utilise it properly for maximum yield.
The step to stock the seeds for farming in January and February was taken while carrying out the task of distributing the seeds among farmers for cultivation in the current season. The state government has taken steps to distribute seeds free of cost for alternate farming among farmers, on whose agricultural land wheat cultivation cannot be carried out for the time being due to wheat blast. It was in 2017 when wheat blast disease had hit around 1,000 hectares of agricultural land in Nadia and Murshidabad districts.
The state Agriculture department had taken immediate steps. The cultivation of wheat in the area was also stopped for the next two years and in such a situation, the Mamata Banerjee government had decided to initiate distribution of seeds of mustard and pulses for alternate farming, to support the farmers in the area.
The steps had helped to check the disease from spreading and officials of the state Agriculture department have been in regular touch with farmers in the area, to extend necessary help to them. Banerjee said: "Distribution of seeds for the current season has been completed on time and sufficient stock of seeds for cultivation of alternate crops in January and February has also been ensured."
It may be recalled that the Agriculture minister and top brass of the state Agriculture department had repeatedly visited the wheat blast affected areas in Nadia and Murshidabad. Moreover, necessary steps were taken to ensure that farmers do not face any problem when they cannot cultivate wheat. Steps were also taken to set up pulse processing mills in the region, so that farmers do not have to take their yield too far for processing.
The state government has also ensured completion of distribution of compensation among farmers who had incurred loss due to hailstorms. Following direction of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, distribution of the compensation has been completed within October 15. In Nadia, around 10 blocks were affected due to hailstorms and 62,000 farmers have received the compensation. A compensation of Rs 22.05 crore has been distributed among farmers in the district.
