Farmers in Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh are growing new variety of paddy in the ongoing Rabi season, officials informed.

They informed that the farmers are growing the new variety of paddy named ‘Nar-Nari’.

A total of 1635 farmers in the district had been using paddy seeds of ‘Sankar’ variety in 1,522 hectares of land.

This apart, it may be recalled that the Chhattisgarh Government also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority ( APEDA) early this year to develop clusters for providing a major push to Agri products exports from the State.

There is a plan to create a ‘cluster’ for horticultural crops in common geographical locations with a view to selecting the best produce for their packaging and their processing for the exports market, officials informed.

APEDA would assist the Government in finding exports markets to sell the produce.

For this, the Government has chosen three key horticulture producing locations in which papaya, bananas and vegetables are grown.

For papaya and bananas, Durg, Bemetara ,Raipur, Bilaspur and Rajnandgaon districts have been chosen whereas for vegetables, Durg, Bemetara, Raipur, Bilaspur, Rajnandgaon, Balod, Surguja, Bastar and Raigarh had been identified.

It may also be recalled that the Chhattisgarh Government has prepared a five-year master plan to provide a fillip to the cultivation of horticulture based crops in the State.

The master plan is for the period 2017-18 to 2021-22, officials informed.

Horticulture is a sunrise sector in the State. The Horticulture crops cover an acreage of 7.41 lakh hectares and production is about 85.95 lakh metric tonnes, officials informed.

The acreage under horticulture crops had increased several times since 2004-05.

According to the master plan, the target is to increase acerage of horticulture crops by about 4.52 lakh hectares. The increase in acerage will cover fruits, vegetables, masala (spices) crops and flowers.

Under the Central Government's Micro-Irrigation Mission Project about 75,000 hectares land had been brought under micro-irrigation in Chhattisgarh. The proposal is to bring in additional 2.34 lakh additional land under the micro-irrigation during the next five years.

An additional investment of Rs 1405 crore  is likely to be incurred on the project.  Farmers will be trained in the processing of horticulture crops.

Additional training centers in production of horticulture crops will be established under the Private Partnership Plan (PPP), officials informed.

Agriculture expert teams also will visit all the villages in the State and guide the farmers.  About 30,000 farmers and 185 employees will be trained in the coming years and 100 farmers will be sent overseas on a study tour.

The Horticulture Department officials said that under the Post-Harvest Management, a network of cold storages and pack houses will be established to prevent the damage of perishable commodities like fruits, vegetables and flowers in the entire State.

About Rs 90.81 crore is likely to be invested in the project. Green Houses, shed net houses, mulching will be established at a cost of Rs 321 crore.

To encourage mechanization of  Horticulture, 20 Horse Power tractors, rotavator, power spryer, light trap instruments will be supplied to the farmers  at a cost of Rs 16.74 crore. Honey bee industry will be doubled in due course of time. There is a proposal to invest Rs 6.40 crore in the rearing of honey bees .

Prime Minister Crop Insurance Scheme will help farmers to cover up the losses. About 90 nurseries out of 122 nurseries will be upgraded. The vegetables are grown on 4.14 lakh hectares of land.

Ten minor and three major Plug Type Vegetable Seedling Units are operating at present. An additional 20 minor and 10 major units will be established soon. Ten lakh saplings will be planted every year.

There are immense possibilities in growing mangoes, guavas, lemon, Amla, Pomegranate, berries, custard apple, litchi, 'Naspati', Peech, Plumes and the acreage will be increased by  1.37 lakh hectares every year.

A Mother Tree Resource Center will be developed at Naya Raipur for the benefit of farmers. A State-level Training Center will be established to introduce farmers to high-grade plants.

As many as 22 food processing units in Chhattisgarh received total Central assistance of Rs 2.48 crores during the last financial year (2015-16), officials informed.

The funds were received by the food processing units  under the scheme for Technology Upgradation, Establishment and Modernization exercises.

It may be recalled that the Central government is making all out efforts to draw Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) under its ‘Make In India’ programme for drawing investment in the Mega Food Park being set up in Chhattisgarh's Dhamtari district in an area of 68.68 hectares.