Jowar, ragi cultivation to be tagged with MGNREGA

K'taka government has announced this to enhance the jowar and ragi production in the state

The Karnataka State Agriculture Commission has come forward with plans to tag the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) scheme with jowar and ragi farming to help the farmers overcome the problem of high labour component.

Commission chairman Prakash Kammaradi said here on Monday that the state government had announced schemes to enhance the jowar and ragi production in the state. But, the cultivation of these crops was largely manual and it involved a higher cost of labour component.

Moreover, no pre-harvest and post-harvest technologies have been developed for these crops so far.

All these factors compel the grower to depend on manual labour and the high labour component has been a deterring factor for the farmers to grow these crops. They are forced to switch over to commercially-viable crops like cotton, Kammaradi said.

“Jowar and Ragi are the main staple food in northern and southern parts of Karnataka respectively. But their cultivation is limited for household use these days. This situation needs to be changed. Therefore, the commission is mulling tagging the MNREGA scheme with cultivation of these crops to reduce the labour component,” he said.

Kammaradi said, the MNREGA provided for employment of 100 days. If the scheme is tagged with cultivation, the daily wage for the agriculture labourers could be paid under this scheme. Hundred days of works could be allotted per hectare.

Even the farmers working in their fields should be allowed to draw wages for their work under MNREGA. This would help bring down the labour component and in turn reduce the cost of cultivation, Kammaradi said.

Replying to a query, he said this proposed plan needs to be discussed with the experts and the government.

Also, the state government should prepare a correct action plan and submit it to the Centre.

Several technical issues were involved in this matter, but it would be difficult to overcome them, he explained.