Farmers gearing up for kharif season

By T. Lakshmipathi

HYDERABAD, JUNE 9. With the advent of the monsoon a week in advance, farmers in the State are gearing up for kharif operations. Copious rains in almost all parts of the State have boosted the crop prospects, leaving behind the grim memory of the worst ever drought that hit more than half the State.

The State Agricultural Department has plans to step up the foodgrain production to 143 lakh tonnes both in the kharif and rabi seasons of 2000-2001 from 129 lakh tonnes achieved last year.

The crop plan, significantly, forms part of a two-year work plan document formulated in consultation with the officials of the Central Government, keeping in view the flow of Central funds for the next two years.

The document lays emphasis on the strategies to accelerate agricultural growth, clearly specifying the crop-wise targets for the years 2000-2001 and 2001-2002.

Described as "Macro Management Mode", the comprehensive plan envisages a switchover from the limitations of a uniform prescription of priorities, strategies and interventions to situation-specific strategies, the Commissioner of Agriculture, Mr.Ajeya Kallam, told this correspondent.

The foodgrain target for the current year was termed "moderate and not ambitious" though the production in the outgoing year received a setback on account of the severe drought. From a record production of 149 lakh tonnes in 1998-99, it fell to 129 lakh tonnes last year mainly due to the failure of the rabi crops. The rabi crop accounted for 60 lakh tonnes in the record production year, the Commissioner explained.

Mr.Kallam said the current kharif target is 93.58 lakh tonnes and the rabi target 49.47 lakh tonnes. In the target for the entire crop year, rice accounts for a lion's share of 110.69 lakh tonnes followed by 24.42 lakh tonnes of millets and 7.86 lakh tonnes of pulses.

The Commissioner explained that a new approach is being adopted from this year (in tune with the changes proposed in the agricultural policy), which is based on detailed studies of different farming situations and the gaps in productivity identified through a scientific analysis.

All the Centrally-sponsored schemes have been reviewed by the officials of both the Central and State Governments and redesigned to achieve the goals set in the two-year agricultural growth plan.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the officials of both the Governments under which the State Government would receive a Central grant of Rs 105 crores for the two years while the contribution of the State itself would be a nominal Rs 8.25 crores. This amount would be spent on the redesigned programmes such as seed management, technology dissemination, farm mechanisation, soil health management and watershed development of rainfed areas including catchments of river valley projects.

Under the plan, rice production which averaged 98 lakh tonnes in the State is expected to be pushed upto 116.22 lakh tonnes in the next two years, the productivity itself going up from 2564 kg. per hectare to 2953 kg. per hectare. Similarly, the production of millets is proposed to be increased from 19.64 lakh tonnes to 25.64 lakh tonnes and that of pulses from 7.27 lakh tonnes to 8.25 lakh tonnes.

Outside the foodgrain arena, the oilseeds production is proposed to be stepped up from 22.78 lakh tonnes to 29.63 lakh tonnes and the cotton production is expected to go up from 15.51 lakh tonnes to 20.87 lakh tonnes.

Mr.Kallam said the detailed review of the performance of AP in agriculture (nearly 60 per cent of which is exclusively rain-fed) revealed that the MoU cannot be driven by crop specific matrices drawn from the overall national policy framework. Therefore the new approach, which would respond truly to the micro-level realities of agriculture across the districts and within them, has been devised.

One of the critical problems in implementation is the timely release of money. The past experience has been that late release of funds reduced the expenditure efficiency. The new development plan envisages release of money in two spells, during April/May for kharif and during September for rabi.

The Central funds for the current year plans have already been released, the Commissioner of Agriculture said. By the end of 2001-2002, the foodgrain production is proposed to be increased to 150.20 lakh tonnes.

Andhra Pradesh stands second in fertilizer consumption, the present level of consumption being 20.08 lakh tonnes. The projected consumption is 21.29 lakh tonnes in 2000-2001 and 22.35 lakh tonnes in 2001-2001.

The Commissioner said the effectiveness of the integrated pest- management programme would be reflected by the reduction in the consumption of pesticides for the control of pests and diseases. The projected pesticide demand has been worked thus: 7500 tonnes in 1999-2000, 6300 tonnes in 2000-2001 and 5700 tonnes in 2001- 2001.

The progress of implementation will be collected from the field functionaries on monthly basis and reviewed and corrective measures taken up immediately. The progress reports shall be sent to both the State and Central Governments twice a year. Final reports would be sent to both the Governments at the end of each financial year.

A monitoring and evaluation cell is to established within the Directorate of Agriculture and Horticulture for close monitoring and periodical evaluation. For external evaluation the project has been entrusted to MANAGE, Centre for Economic Studies, Acharya N.G.Ranga Agricultural University and the Administrative Staff College of India.

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