Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi

Efforts on to increase banana production

TIRUNELVELI: Following the depletion of micro nutrients in the soil, owing to unsystematic use of fertilizers, the Department of Horticulture has started distributing micro nutrient mixture to the banana growers under the National Horticulture Mission programme to increase productivity.

Since farmers of the district, particularly, agriculturists from Radhapuram, Nanguneri, Kalakkad, Cheranmahadevi and Ambasamudram blocks repetitively go for plantain cultivation on over 7,000 hectares every year, the productivity per hectare stands only at 33.35 tonnes per hectare due to the depletion of certain micro nutrients in the soil.

The problem worsens due to soil erosion, whenever the farmers follow imbalanced nutrition pattern by providing the crop with excess di-ammonium phosphate and allow the banana saplings to grow densely.

Since utmost and undue importance is being given for the indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers, the micro nutrients present in the soil is wasted inadvertently, leading to drop in the productivity. To check this trend and ultimately increase banana productivity of the district, the Department of Horticulture has proposed to distribute 26 tonnes of micro-nutrient mixture, worth Rs. 10 lakh, to a minimum 1,500 farmers from ‘banana cluster villages’ under the National Horticulture Mission programme’s Integrated Nutrition Management Component. Micro nutrient mixture worth Rs. 1,000 will be given for cultivating banana on one hectare.

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