The Central Government has convened a meeting of the Chief Ministers of the eastern States for “extending the green revolution to eastern India.” A special budgetary allocation of Rs.400 crore was last year to invigorate farming in the region.
West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Orissa have been invited for the meeting, which will be hosted by West Bengal in Kolkata, chaired by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and attended, among others, by Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. In consultation with the Central government's technological agencies over the past few weeks, these States have prepared strategies for reviving farm production and productivity. They have identified soil degradation, mono-cropping culture, water salinity and lack of seeds, fertilizer and technology as the major drawbacks.
The Union Agriculture Ministry has suggested that these States shift to pulses, oilseeds and maize, or diversify upland rice areas that are less productive to such crops as millets, pulses and oilseeds; develop on-farm irrigation resources; improve drainage; and repair irrigation channels.
In West Bengal, for instance, special strategies will be considered for areas with arsenic problem and those plagued by salinity and inundation. Propagation of salt-tolerant varieties, especially for small landholdings, will be examined.In the flood-prone Bihar, promotion of hybrid rice and submergence-tolerant rice varieties, reclamation of problematic soils and zero tillage technology for timely sowing of wheat in low-level areas are some of the strategies under consideration.
Chhattisgarh is being advised to go in for low-water requiring and upland crops such as maize, millets and pulses to be grown on forestland. It should construct water storage facilities and irrigation tanks.
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