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Tuesday, Jan 01, 2008

Tamil Nadu
4.3 lakh hectares brought under SRI plan

Special Correspondent
It is 20 per cent of State’s total paddy coverage area
Photo: E. Lakshmi Narayanan

Healthy trend: Agriculture Minister Veerapandi S. Arumugam

inspecting the paddy crop cultivated under System Rice
Intensification method in Chandirapillai Valasu, near Salem,
on Monday. —

SALEM: A healthy 20 per cent of the State’s total paddy coverage

area of 21.5 lakh hectares has been brought under the System Rice
Intensification (SRI) programme, said Agricultural Minister
Veerapandi S. Arumugam.

After eliciting farmers’ views on the advantages of the SRI scheme

being introduced in the remote Thumbal village falling under the
Upper Vellaru River Water and Land Development Programme of
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in Salem district, on Monday, the
Minister while talking to reporters said the coverage under the SRI
during 2006-07, the first year of experimentation was a mere 4,638
hectares. Next year it was increased to 11,320 hectares.

“And today we have brought a staggering 4.3 lakh hectares under

 the scheme in the total paddy coverage area of 21.5 lakh hectares.
It is quite laudable,” Mr. Arumugam said.

The increase in the area coverage, he said, would ensure an

increased food production too. “If the agriculturists come forward to
adopt this technology totally, which has been revolutionising the
paddy farming today, the entire rice needs of Tamil Nadu can be
met. We need not outsource it,” he pointed out.

The food production target for this year was fixed at 95 lakh tonnes.

To forge a direct one-to-one contact with the stakeholders the

Department of Agriculture had been revamped and modified from
three-tier system of functioning to two-tier system.

“We ensure transparency in all spheres of our functioning so that

the farming being faced by today’s myriad problems is completely
modernised and ensures livelihood,” he said. Along with the
Minister, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University Vice-Chancellor C.
Ramasamy, Collector N. Mathivanan and other senior officials also
interacted with the farmers at Thumbal village.

Earlier, they also visited the fields. The scheme assured 50 per cent
of additional yield compared to the ordinary paddy cultivation with
less seeds, water and manual labour.

Twenty-eight districts had been brought under its scheme, including

the delta districts where the enthusiasm among the farmers was
high. As such the Government was providing subsidies to the
farmers to popularise the scheme.

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