15-04-14
The pilot project is to be implemented in total 150 hectares spread over Nagpur, Amravati, and Wardha districts
By Kartik Lokhande
Oranges and Vidarbha are inseparables. In fact,
Nagpur is also known as Orange City because of orange cultivation and
export of oranges to other parts of the country and abroad. However,
over the years, things have not remained the same as far as quality and
productivity of orange fruit is concerned. Considering this, Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) Directorate
at Nagpur has decided to undertake a novel project.
The MGNREGS Directorate has chalked out a plan to implement a pilot
project on orange cultivation under the widely popular scheme in three
districts of Vidarbha. The project is proposed to be implemented in
Nagpur, Amravati, and Wardha districts. In each district, 50 hectares of
land will be covered under the project. At present, Vidarbha region has
1.48 lakh hectares of area under orange cultivation. Orange is a cash
crop for farmers in the region. Against this backdrop, the project has
been chalked out to give a boost to cultivation of quality oranges. The
project is being implemented in Kharif season later this year.
According to Dr Uday Patil, Deputy Commissioner (Agriculture), MGNREGS
Directorate, orange productivity in Maharashtra is 3.9 metric tonnes per
hectare. Compared to other states, it is very low. Besides, only 13 per
cent of the orange crop now fulfill the prevalent quality standards.
“There is immense scope for marketing of the crop within and outside the
country. However, owing to flaws in production methods and lack of
scientific management, the production of oranges that qualify on the
parameters of prevalent quality standards is less than desired,” he
said.
Considering this, MGNREGS Directorate and Divisional Commissionerate
(Nagpur) prepared a proposal for orange cultivation based on Indo-Israel
technology. The Government cleared the proposal, which was prepared in
consultation with National Bank for Rural and Agricultural Development
(NABARD). The project will be implemented on the farms of orange-growers
who are interested. The project period is three years, and use of
drip-irrigation is mandatory. The expenditure to be incurred on
drip-irrigation facility will be met from Convergence head of
Agriculture Department.
According to Dr Uday Patil, many factors result in loss of orange crop.
These include water accumulation, over-watering, inter-cropping, hot
breeze, low micro-irrigation, Gummosis of citrus crop (known as ‘Dinkya’
in local parlance), lack of trimming as per requirement etc. “Proper
planning, management, and adoption of scientific methods can avoid all
the problems. Under the proposed scheme, care will be taken of various
aspects. The scheme will definitely lead to increase in life of orange
orchard, effective increase in quality and production of the citrus
fruit, and rise in income of orange-growers,” he added.
The scheme details
Any land-holder is eligible to apply for the
scheme. However, he/she must have job card issued under MGNREGS. The
beneficiary will have to bear the labour expenses towards management of
orange orchard, crop protection, fertigation etc. Besides, it is
necessary to ensure that 90 and 95 per cent of trees are alive in second
and third years. The aid to be provided by the Government under the
scheme is Rs 2,04,034 per hectare. This includes Rs 1,44,457 per hectare
for the first year; Rs 28,761 per hectare for the second year; and Rs
30,816 per hectare for the third year. But, there must be 555 trees per
hectare.
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