Southern States
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Karnataka
Make farmers aware of mite menace: Minister
By Our Staff Correspondent
DAVANGERE, JAN. 28. S.S.Mallikarjun, Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs, who in charge of the district, has instructed the officials to educate the farmers about the mite menace affecting coconut palms and the various schemes and programmes introduced by the Government to control it, and help the farmers who suffered losses.
Inaugurating a programme on controlling the mite menace at Belavanur village in Davangere taluk today, Mr. Mallikarjun said that about 12.8 lakh coconut trees were affected by the disease, and two lakh of them were given treatment for which pesticides had been supplied to the farmers at concessional rates. The disease had spread widely, and a number of coconut trees was affected in Chennagiri, Davangere, and Harihar taluks.
The minister told the officials to take up a drive on a war footing to eliminate the disease. He felt that the officials had failed in creating awareness about the disease among the farmers. As a result, some farmers were disgusted, and many others had cut down coconut trees in their orchards.
He said he would not tolerate negligence on the part of the officials in eradicating the disease, and stringent action would be taken against those who failed to discharge their duties effectively. Mr. Mallikarjun claimed that the district stood first in the construction of Ashraya houses, and the district administration was now concentrating on providing good roads in the district. New roads were being laid, and many roads were being repaired at a total cost of Rs. 8.50 crore.
Mr. Mallikarjunappa, Davangere MP, said that though the Government had introduced some programmes to control the mite disease, it had failed to release funds in time. At least Rs. 1 crore was required to provide treatment to the affected coconut trees. He urged the Government to release the amount forthwith to enable the officers to take up a drive to control the disease.
K.Shivaram, Deputy Commissioner, said there was coconut cultivation in 14,357 hectares of land in the district. There were 20.8 lakh coconut trees. As many as 12.8 lakh of them were affected by the disease. The district administration had formed a task force to eliminate the disease. Five teams had been formed in each taluk to educate the farmers about it, he said.
Prabhakarappa, Chief Executive Officer of zilla panchayat, and K.Mallappa, MLC, were among those who spoke on the occasion. Anaberu Parvathamma, zilla panchayat president, presided over the function.
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