State, Centre sign pact for rejuvenation of land

Karnataka government has entered into a pact with the centre to reclaim two lakh hectares of degraded land and convert it into cultivable land.

Disclosing this at the inaugural session of the annual convention of India Society of Soil Science organised at the University of Agricultural Sciences here on Wednesday water resources minister Basavaraj Bommai said the centre will grant Rs 606 crore to rejuvenate the land as per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

This project has already been launched in the state and 88,000 hectare degraded land has been turned into cultivable land. A whopping Rs 253 crore is spent on this so far, he added.

This project will be extended to other degraded lands and in a bid to increase food production.

Besides, thrust has been laid on micro-irrigation which will help the farmers of non-irrigated lands get adequate water resource for cultivation. This project is likely to get a green signal from the centre as the union government is marching ahead in launching Water Policy Act by January 2012, he said.

Another important project taken up by the state is rejuvenation of the rivers, tanks and lakes. A few tanks in the north Karnataka region are on the verge of extinction following the silt formation. Hence, the project will ensure that the silt formation is arrested, besides, soil erosion in the catchment area is checked.

Speaking on the occasion,deputy director general of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) A K Singh said the cultivable land in India is shrinking at alarming rate while the population is on the rise. Hence, the challenges before the agri experts have multiplied by many-fold.

Now, the government should consider this as an emerging issue and form policies which are pro-agriculture, he noted.

Dr Singh said, this year, the country has achieved 265 million food production which is an all-time record. But, to meet the food demand of ever growing population, there is a need to enhance the food productivity. By 2020, India should produce 400 million tonne of food grains to feed the hungry domestic market, he said.

He called upon the scientists to give emphasis on micro-nutrients which will maintain the fertility of the soil and can get better yield year after year.

Indian Society of Soil Sciences president B P Singh, Dean, College of Agriculture M B Chetti also spoke. UAS Vice-Chancellor R R Hanchinaal presided.