Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: The true progress in agriculture and irrigation is shown by the fact that only 6.52 lakh hectares of the 27.58 lakh hectares of land that could be irrigated actually have irrigation, and only 13 lakh of the about 40 lakh farmers in the state are registered.
Agriculture and Irrigation Minister Pijush Hazarika told the state Assembly today that the government is starting more projects with financial help from NABARD, NEC, NLCPR (Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources), SOPD, and others to increase the amount of land that gets irrigation. "With such initiatives we can bring 1,427 hectares of land under irrigation," he said.
The minister also informed the House that of the 3,492 minor irrigation schemes in the state, 879 are operational, 1,444 are partly operational, 936 are non-functional, and 233 are under construction. On the other hand, six of the major irrigation schemes in the state are partly operational, he said, adding that three of the 12 medium-size irrigation schemes are functional, seven are partially functional, one is lying defunct and another one is under construction. He said that there will be an allocation of funds in the coming budget for the maintenance of irrigation schemes to make the non-functional irrigation schemes functional again.
The minister said, "Many farmers of the state have their ancestral lands without land mutation on their names. This situation prevents them from registering as farmers and receiving government scheme incentives. Apart from this, many of the farmers of the state are sharecroppers. We have approached the central government to consider sharecroppers as farmers if they can produce their tenant certificates. We have also decided to conduct a pilot camp for land mutations to enable immediate changes for farmers. Our target is to register 40 lakh farmers in the state in the next five years."
Earlier, BJP MLA Mrinal Saikia raised the problems of the farmers of the state and said, "The land mutation of famers needs simplification. The farmers of the state cultivate tomatoes on a large scale. However, during the harvesting season, the market price of tomatoes plummets, forcing beleaguered farmers to use their yield as cattle feed. If the government had established food processing units in these areas, it could have produced tomato sauce from the surplus tomato yield. The timely supply of quality seeds is a must for the benefit of farmers. Poor road connectivity in remote areas makes marketing farmers' produce very difficult. We need to do everything possible to convince farmers that cultivation will lead to their sustainability".
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