Tripura agriculture secretary Apurba Roy Monday said that despite the 17 per cent rain deficit this year, the government was hopeful that there would be no shortfall in paddy production during the Aman (winter) cropping season. Aman is a traditional paddy cropping cycle in Tripura, like Aus and Boro.
As per agriculture department reports, paddy saplings have been planted in 1,44,120 hectares out of 1,48,000 hectares under paddy cultivation in the state during the Aman crop cycle.
Notably, rainfall shortage had impacted paddy output during the previous Aus crop cycle.
Earlier in August, Tripura Agriculture Minister Pranajit Singha Roy said the state might face 59,570 MT foodgrain shortage as Aus and Jhum cultivation could not be carried out on 25,000 hectares of cultivable land owing to rainfall deficit.
Roy said the government had set a target of cultivating 30,000 hectares during the Aus cropping season, in addition to 15,500 hectares under Jhum cultivation.
Meanwhile, assistant agriculture director Debabrata Majumder said the department was pushing for the adoption of Integrated Crop Management (ICM).
The ICM is stated to be a system of crop production that aims to enhance natural resources while producing food in an economically viable setting.
Majumder said while the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and the ICM were practised earlier in the state, the department was promoting the ICM to counter the impact of a 3 per cent reduction in the area of land under paddy cultivation during the ongoing Aman season.
Also ReadMedical interns launch cease work at state-run IGM Hospital in Tripura ov…Man arrested in Tripura while trying to send over 300 kg cannabis to West…Agartala-Bangladesh-Kolkata railway route to be operational within this y…TIPRA Motha founder Pradyot Kishore’s Facebook fan page hacked; complaint…
To encourage the greater adoption of the ICM, the government is providing financial support and agri-input assistance to farmers.