Southern States - Karnataka   

Meet on dry land farming begins at UAS

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE MAY 29. Agricultural scientists, who are participating in a seminar on dry land farming, here, have said that ways of improving agricultural practices, precision equipment, and tractors must be found quickly if dry land productivity is to be improved.

The two-day seminar began at the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) here today.

V.M. Mayande, Principal Scientist from `Crida', a Hyderabad-based dry land agricultural research institute, said timely interventions had improved crop yield significantly.

Timely sowing of seeds had improved production of castor by 23 per cent, of cotton by 22 per cent, of Kharif sorghum by 36 per cent, and of Rabi sorghum by 19 per cent in places where Crida had studied the impact of interventions. In Uttar Pradesh, a second crop of barley was planted on a dry land plot, he said.

Regarding precision equipment required to place the seed at the right depth and for other purposes, Mr. Mayande said "custom hiring" could be the solution. Low-cost equipment that had moderate precision could be promoted alongside a "custom hire package of high-cost and high-precision equipment," he said.

The same approach could also be used to manufacture tractors, he said.

To prevent a glut of tractors simply because credit was available, Nabard was following guidelines on the optimum number of tractors in a particular region, he said.

Private units' participation was also important to make equipment available at least at the block level and to ensure quality (subsidy on agricultural equipment had brought down their quality), he said. The seminar will delve on subjects such as cover tillage and seed-bed preparation, seeding and planting equipment, intercultural implements and their cost effectiveness, plant protection equipment and their relevance, utility of harvesting and threshing equipment, linkage between research institutes' development departments, industries, and farmers, and the role of financial institutions and non-governmental organisations.

Y.H. Yadahalli, Director Research, UAS, A.M. Krishnappa, Vice-Chancellor, UAS, M.A. Shankar, Chief Scientist, Dry Land Agricultural Project, UAS, and C.P. Sadashiva, a manufacturer of low-cost precision equipment, spoke at the inaugural session of the seminar. G.P. Shetty, Managing Director of Karnataka Agrochemicals, inaugurated the seminar.

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