58 pc agriculture land irrigated by rain

58 pc agriculture land irrigated by rain
Archit Watts/TNS

Jammu, April 5
After 63 years of Independence, the farmers of Jammu and Kashmir are still dependant on rain to irrigate their agriculture land. Giving a written reply to a question raised by the Congress legislator BR Kundal in the Legislative Council recently, the Agriculture Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir informed the House that out of total 7.39 lakh hectares of net sown area, the 4.26 lakh hectares were dependant on rain. On this, Kundal asked, “What steps has the government initiated to protect the interests of farmers in such rainfall-fed areas?”

Mir replied, “The department is providing subsidy for the construction of deep bore wells and water harvesting tanks to the farming community especially in these areas”.

“22,000 hectares are being irrigated through bore wells, irrigation pump sets, tube wells and ponds. Besides, a National Agriculture Insurance Scheme is also under implementation in all the districts to cover the risk and damage to the crops due to drought, hailstorm, cloudburst and fire,” Mir added.

Kundal also questioned the minister about the functioning of the sub-stations established by the Agriculture Department to develop such areas.

Mir replied, “Three sub-stations have been established for carrying out research related to rain-fed areas at Dhiansar, Raya and Samba and all the three are functional”. The minister added, “Twenty two Automatic Weather Stations have been sanctioned by the Indian Space Research Organisation for all the districts in the state, which will become functional shortly. These will prove a boon for the general public and the farming community, as weather forecasts will be available at the district level”.