VISAKHAPATNAM:
Vizianagaram
district officials are planning to take up
crop diversification
in a big way. They have decided to go for alternative crops with low water requirement in about 25,000 acres in the district instead of paddy in the coming kharif season.
They have sought the
technical assistance of ICRISAT
for this initiative. The shift will be done towards pulses, millets and oilseeds. District collector
A Surya Kumari
, who attended a virtual meeting with ICRISAT scientists and senior officials recently, explained the geographical conditions, crops being sown in the district, conditions of farmers, and nature of the soil.
“The district has 4.22 lakh farmers. But the majority are small farmers, having a landholding of about one acre. Due to the nature of the soil in the district, 63% of land is low in nitrogen, 46% is high in phosphorus, and 54% is low in potassium. The total area under cultivation during kharif would be around 2.27 lakh acres, out of which 66,050 acres are rainfed with poor soil fertility. Due to this, farmers are incurring huge losses every year. All these factors point to the need of alternative and profitable crops with low water requirements,” said Surya Kumari.
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