Now, farmers in Gujarat will form water committees in every village to decide how much water they need to draw from the Narmada canal for irrigation purpose.
Now, farmers in Gujarat will form water committees in every village to decide how much water they need to draw from the Narmada canal for irrigation purpose. This was announced by state chief minister Narendra Modi on Saturday while he was speaking to the farmers in Anand on the third day of the fifth edition of Gujarat government’s annual event Krishi Mahotsav, through video conferencing from Gandhinagar.
He also emphasised upon adopting drip irrigation method by farmers. He said that government had also allowed increasing the depth of wells in the villages wherever required and they needn’t pay any money for spreading the earth dug out on their farms.
He claimed that farmers and his government’s efforts have paid off bringing Gujarat on the top in terms of agriculture growth rate. He also discussed with them results of experiments with drip irrigation, cattle breeding and milk production by women related to sakhimandali scheme.
Significantly, this year’s Mahotsav was a much diluted affair than previous years as unlike before the government has not reached out to any farmer in any village. Instead four agricultuiral universities — Anand Agricultural University, Junagadh Agricultural University, Navsari Agricultural University and Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Banaskantha — are hosting the events for four different zones of the state.
In addition, events like seminars and exhibitions are organised at taluka-level for farmers from nearby villages. The event officially started on Wednesday.
So far, Modi has announced setting up of the state’s first animal hostel in north Gujarat — the Kamdhenu University for Veterinary and Animal Sciences. “We will start soil health management course in all the four agriculture universities in the State. As North Gujarat tops the production of castor in the world, the state government has decided to establish special economic zones for value addition and research,” he said.
While speaking to farmers gathered at Dhoraji taluka on Friday, Modi assured them of taking up the dark zone issue with the Centre and discuss it in-person with central agriculture and energy ministers. A ‘dark zone’ status means the groundwater table in the area is much below the minimum desired level, and the water quality is also substandard. Govt has put restrictions on farmers on fetching groundwater in these dark zones. Here farmers can’t get bank loans or financial assistance for irrigation (to construct new wells or tube wells) and no new power connection is provided for agriculture.
Modi said Gujarat’s farmers are now motivated for scientific agricultural practices such as drip irrigation and the age old issue should be resolved now as it was meant for old agricultural practices. Saurasthra’s Manavadar and Vanthali are two talukas that have been placed for the last 15 years under the dark zone category, which has halted development process of these areas.
However, not so surprisingly, Modi remained conspicuous with his silence on political matters.
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