Vizianagaram: Millets, pulses now in focus

Vizianagaram: After facing bitter experience in Kharif with paddy farmers, the agriculture department has changed its focus to other crops like pulses, vegetables and millets. The civil supplies wing failed to purchase paddy during Kharif. They could not pay the bills on time. The farmers' struggled to sell their paddy. The farmers staged dharnas for bills at several places across the district.

The agriculture department is motivating farmers to grow other crops like pulses, vegetables, millets, ragi, pearl millets, fox tail millets and maize rather than paddy. The cultivation area of rabi in this district is 70,000 hectares and its common practice here to grow paddy in around 5,500 hectares during this season. But, the district administration has decided to reduce the paddy production to less than 2,000 hectares only to reduce the paddy.

D Hemasundar, agriculture officer said, "We are conducting awareness programmes in villages under Rythu Bharosa Kendrams(RBK)s to explain the farmers about the importance of millets and pulses.

The programmes would be held till the end of this month." K Prakash, district project manager of natural farming wing said, the climatic conditions would be more favorable for crops like green gram, red gram, black gram, ragi, maize and others which have good demand in the market.

"We have assigned our field staff to meet the farmers and to cultivate other crops instead of paddy." These crops have less input cost and less expenditure but they can get good yield. They need not worry about the selling of products,' he added.