In-charge Collector Sanjiv Jha has asked officials to promote vegetable cultivation near small irrigation projects in the district.
The officials also need to promote rain water harvesting by residents on the roofs of their houses during the ongoing monsoon season, he said.
Jha was addressing a meeting of District Water Utilization Committee at the Zila Panchayat office in the district headquarters. Jha in the meeting also asked officials to advise farmers to grow other crops besides paddy for enhancing profitability. He said that there is tremendous scope for taking up green chilly and litchi crops by farmers for cultivation in the district.
Notably, the Chhattisgarh Sovernment has set a target of promoting cultivation of vegetables in 4,425 hectares of land under National Horticulture Mission.
An amount of Rs175 crore had been earmarked for implementing its Annual Plan 2015-16 under National Horticulture Mission in Chhattisgarh.
An annual plan had been endorsed in a meeting of the 12th Working Committee of the State Horticulture Development Society.
The plan comprises a target for cultivating vegetables in an area of 4,425 hectares for which a provision of Rs15.16 crore was proposed. A provision of Rs13.50 crore had been made to promote vegetable cultivation in the State.
A target of 2,500 hectares had been set for growing condiment based crops while a target of 2,240 hectares had been set for Floriculture .
A provision of Rs4.50 crore had also been made for carrying out organic farming and Rs1.52 crore for promotion of bee keeping.This apart, a provision of Rs1.12 crore had been made to develop new water sources.
last year, the State had embarked on an ‘Organic Farming Mission’ on an experimental basis in five districts of the State namely Kanker, Koriya, Raigarh, Raipur and Dantewada, officials stated.
The National Agriculture Development Scheme is being implemented since year 2007-08 with objectives of expanding cultivation area of fruits, vegetables and spice crops and supplying advanced high-quality seeds to farmers. Earlier under Shakhambari Scheme, subsidy was provided for only electricity and diesel based irrigation pumps but now farmers using petrol based irrigation pumps are also eligible for availing subsidy under this scheme, they stated.
The Government had been providing free seeds and fertilizers to the tribal families holding forest rights certificates.The arrangements for free distribution of seeds and fertilizers have also been made, officials stated.