Farmers are not interested in land development project! Insistence on implementation with full grant

by time news
Bagoor: Farmers have demanded the government to allow them to take sediment in lakes at a subsidy of five per cent to improve arable lands.

In most parts of Pondicherry, agricultural activities are carried out through ‘borewell’ water. In arable lands, soil fertility is affected and yields are reduced due to monoculture.

Soil damage

Farmers are using various chemical fertilizers to increase the yield. Thus, there is a risk that the arable land will be affected and at some point become infertile. The farmer who wants to, from which lake, how much soil he wants to take, should give a petition to the Department of Agriculture.

Government subsidy

Following this, as per the recommendation of the Department of Agriculture, the area to be taken by the farmer at the specific water level will be measured by the Public Works Department officials. The farmer should take the soil at his own expense and improve the land. Later, the cost of transporting the soil was subsidized by the Department of Agriculture.

Sudden stop

The ‘Land Development Project’, which was well received by the farmers, was discontinued in 2004. Due to this, the work of improving the arable lands was completely halted. To change the salinity of these lands, the demand for alluvial soil increased.

New project

In this context, the Government of Pondicherry came up with a scheme in 2019 to remove alluvial soil from lakes for aquaculture, capacity building and arable land development project.

With the petition, you have to pay Rs.1000 per load of soil. Following that, the PWD officials will measure the area to be excavated by the farmer in the particular lake. After that, the farmer has to take the soil at his own expense.

Great cost

Under this new scheme of the government, farmers have to spend huge sums to improve the land. As a result, farmers are reluctant to take up alluvial soil in water bodies, including lakes.

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