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Bengal Govt bid to boost agriculture

Our Bureau

KOLKATA, July 10

THE West Bengal Government has taken up a programme to convert wasteland and uncultivable land into agricultural land to boost production, Mr Kamal Guha, State Agriculture Minister, said on Tuesday.

In his Budget speech in the State Assembly, the

Minister said that the State was planning to increase foodgrains production through a policy of soil conservation and reclamation works, combined with application of the latest agricultural technology to boost productivity.

West Bengal had 56-lakh hectares of cultivable land and 76,460 hectares of uncultivable land. The population is expected to increase from 80.2 million now to 94 million crore by the end of the decade. The estimated requirement of foodgrain for this highe r population was 188.12 lakh tonnes, the Minister said.

Mr Guha said that West Bengal, which produced 144.82 lakh tonnes of foodgrains in 2000-01, expected to increase the output to 171.87 lakh tonnes in the current fiscal.

Unveiling the State Government's programme for increasing production of some of its major crops, the Minister said that West Bengal, which is the country's top rice producer, had been able to sustain its production level through the use of HYV seeds an d through improved farm methods.

On oilseed production, he said that traditionally, West Bengal was deficit in this item. However, in recent times, different schemes have been introduced. On jute production, he said that the coverage, production and productivity of the jute crop had bee n facing many problems. During 2001-02, it is proposed to cover 5.25 lakh hectares with a production target of 66.93 lakh hectares. Both the area under cultivation and the crop is expected to be lower this year compared to 1999-2000.

On fertiliser consumption, Mr Guha said that it had increased from 103 kg/hectare in 1997-98 to 134 kg/hectare in 1999-2000. Farmers were also being encouraged to use organic manure.