K'taka to bring 3.22 lakh ha under Bhoochetana-II initiative

Bhoochetana-II aimed at increasing agri productivity by 20% and profitability of farmers in rainfed areas by 25% in next five years

The Karnataka government is planning to take Bhoochetana-II, an extension of its Bhoochetana initiative that is aimed at boosting productivity of rainfed agriculture through science-led interventions, to 322,000 hectare (ha) across the state in a phased manner.

“Bhoochetana-II is aimed at increasing agri productivity by 20 per cent and profitability of farmers in rainfed areas by 25 per cent in the next five years. Initially, we will be rolling it out in four districts of Karnataka, covering 10,000 ha each,” Krishna Byre Gowda, state agriculture minister, told mediapersons here Thursday.

Gowda said the model, taken up in collaboration with Hyderabad-headquartered International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat), was being replicated in other states and abroad too.

“While Bhoochetana is being extended to one million ha in Andhra Pradesh from the current 100,000 ha, we have received a query from the Uttar Pradesh government. We have already submitted a proposal to the Tamil Nadu government on the latter's request. Besides, the Philippines, and sub-Saharan and African countries are evincing interest in replicating the model,” said William D Dar, director-general of Icrisat.

“JSW Steel is is investing Rs 12 crore for five years in Karnataka's Bhoochetana initiative. We are starting with Sandur in Bellary district and we will be with them throughout the state-wide roll out,” said Sajjan Jindal, chairman and managing director of JSW Steel.

Icrisat, along with the Karnataka government, JSW foundation and Ananda Coca-Cola Foundation, today launched three knowledge-sharing projects — KrishiGyanSagar and Krishi Vani as part of Bhoochetana-II in Bellary district, besides an ‘Integrated Water Resource Management’ in Kollar district of Karnataka.

These projects are aimed at benefiting farmers in Karnataka and help them in addressing issues of drought, soil erosion and nutritional deficiency.

The projects will use information and communication technology-based tools to provide information on soil nutrient status, package of practices, pests and diseases and crop-related information, in Kannada and English.

“In addition to tablet-based delivery of information, farmer-to-farmer short videos will be made available for farmers to be shown by 10,000 'farmer facilitators' using battery-operated Pico Projectors. This will also enable the facilitators to track the adoption of new technologies and obtain farmers' feedback,” said SV Ranganath, chief secretary, Karnataka government.