Category Archives: Agriculture

Karnataka to expand orange cultivation

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Nature

Bangalore, Jan 03:
Karnataka is planning to expand area under orange cultivation by 50 per cent to 15,000 hectares in five years.

The horticulture department has identified Kodagu, Chikmagalur and Hassan districts for expansion of orange growing area.

“As per the plan prepared by us, about 1,000-hectare addition is planned annually till we achieve sizable production level,” S.V. Hittalmani, Additional Director, Karnataka Horticulture Department, told Business Line.

“Looking at the favourable agro-climatic conditions, the department is planning to expand annually 500 hectares in Kodagu and the rest in Chikmagalur and Hassan districts,” he added.

At present, 10,000 hectares are under orange cultivation, mainly grown as intercrop in coffee estates, though real fruit yield comes only from 5,000 to 6,000 hectares.

“After inclusion of orange under National Horticulture Mission (NHM) in the State seven years ago and also by offering Rs 15,000 per hectares as incentives to growers, we are seeing good quantity of oranges in the market,” said Hittalmani.

“Fairly good yield is being reported from Sidapura and Thitimati in Kodagu. Now we plan to replicate this in other districts where we plan to introduce the crop,” he added.

CURRENT YIELD

Current orange production (2012-13 crop year) in the State is estimated at 50,000 tonnes as against 45,000 tonnes last year (2011-12 crop year).

The department is also planning to give a boost to orange cultivation by encouraging fruit processing units in the growing regions. According to Hitalmani, at present a couple of processing units are operating under cooperative societies in Kushalnagar and Gonikoppa in Kodagu.

Hitalmani said the revival of orange in the State has led to steady demand. “Prices early in the season (November) average around Rs 60 a kg. Then it drops to Rs 45 a kg by the middle of the season (December/January) and later it quotes around Rs 50 to 60 as the season ends (February-March).

ORANGE MELA

As a step forward to develop farmer-centric business model, National Horticulture Board (NHB) and Karnataka Horticulture Department are holding an ‘Orange Mela’ in Bangalore from January 4 to 6, said Jagadeesha KG, Director of Horticulture.

For the mela, farmers from orange producing States such as Maharastra, Punjab, Rajasthan, a few States from North-East, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu are taking part.

anil.u@thehindu.co.in

source: http://www.TheHinduBusinessLine.com / Home> Industry / by Anil Urs / Bangalore, January 03rd, 2013

Jamma Baane comes under forest : Governor

About Kodagu / Coorg, Agriculture, Business & Economy, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Nature

‘It is not a revenue land’

Governor H R Bharadwaj has opined that Jamma Baane land comes under forest limits in Kodagu district.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, during his private visit in Madikeri on Monday, he said that Jamma Baane land comes under forest. “People were given the right to use the land. However, it is not a revenue land,” he said.

The Assembly had passed Karnataka Land Revenue (Amendment) Act, with regard to Jamma Baane. However, the Governor had not given assent to the Act.

“As Jamma Baane comes under forest limits, I had sent the Act to the Central government for approval.”

Kodagu district is surrounded by Western Ghats, which is known for its flora and fauna. It is one of the hotspots of the world. There is a need conserve the bio diversity, he said.

Kodagu is a tourists paradise. Several tourists visit the district to enjoy the beauty of nature. There is a need to promote eco-friendly tourism, without harming the nature.

‘Provide facilities’

The Governor said that the government can solve the problems related to Maoists by responding to the needs of the people.

“There is a need to provide basic facilities in the villages. The villagers should be provided with better health care and education. To check the eviction of the forest dwellers, Forest Rights Act has been implemented. MGNREGS and others schemes of the government should be implemented effectively.

Intervention

The Governor said that he has been watching closely into the political development in the State. “I will intervene, if there was any constitutional crisis in the State.

The development is internal issue of the BJP. I can not intervene now,” he said and added “the government should function as per the constitution.”

Deputy Commissioner Dr N V Prasad, SP Manjunath Annigeri, Additional DC N Shivashankar, CMC Commissioner N M Shashikumar and others were present.

source: http://www.DeccanHerald.com / Home> District / Madikeri, DHNS / November 13th, 2012

Tribals empowered to collect minor forest produces: Rameshwar Oraon

About Kodagu / Coorg, Agriculture, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature


Rameshwar Oraon, Chairperson, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, addressing tribals at Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Bhavan in Hunsur yesterday, accompanied by other members of the Commission. Pictures centre and right show the tribal dances performed to welcome the Central team.

Mysore, Nov. 9 (RK&RNN)
Tribal people have every right to collect and sell Minor Forest Produces (MFP) and no one could interfere with this, observed Rameshwar Oraon, Chairperson, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.

Addressing members of the tribal community at Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Bhavan in Hunsur after visiting several Haadis in H.D. Kote taluk of Mysore district yesterday, he said the Union Government was taking steps to fix a minimum price for the MFP to avoid exploitation from middle men.

He also added that The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 made all tribal people living in the forest eligible for title deeds of their lands and urged Adivasis to take benefits due to them.

He also elicited the opinion of tribal people and others who participated in the meeting on whether they were getting the benefits given by the Centre.

Stating that the tribals would be given compensation four times higher than the existing value of the land if the same was acquired for any government purpose, Oraon added that the Centre was planning to bring legislation in this regard.

Many of those present complained that they were denied benefits like schools, angan-wadi centres, drinking water and ration under the Public Distribution System (PDS) to which Oraon replied that he would take up the issue with the State Chief Secretary at a meeting scheduled to be held today and added that he would also discuss it with Deputy Commissioner and CEO of Mysore Zilla Panchayat.

Food security to tribals

It is reported that Rameshwar Oraon has directed the District Administration to provide food security to tribals and adivasis living in the periphery of forests through Fair Price shops and also urged the District Administration to provide them alternative land for agriculture.

Stressing for education to tri-bal children at Ashraya Schools from first to seventh standards, Oraon instructed ADGP Chikkanur to withdraw false cases filed against tribals and also called for making arrangements for selling of products manufactured by tribals through Lamp Societies at good prices.

He directed early completion of probe into the missing cases of Jiyamballi Raju and Hunsekoppa Bheemasena besides ensuring avoidance of harassment of tribals by forest officials.

A traditional welcome was accorded to the visiting team by tribals who performed folk dan-ces following which Prasanna, Convenor of South India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring (SICHREM) and Vaddaragudi Chikkanna gave a presentation of problems being faced by tribals.

The team consisting of Rameshwar Oraon, Commission members Kamala Kumari, B.L. Meena, Jt. Secretary Aditya Mishra, Dy. Director K.D.Bansar, SC/ST Regional Office (Bhopal) Asst. Director R.K.Dubey and others who arrived from Bangalore in the morning drove straight to Morarji Desai School Hostel in Hunsur for an inspection.

Dy. Commissioner P.S. Vastrad, ZP CEO Dr. Ajai Nagabhushan, SP R.Dileep, MLAs Chikkanna and Manjunath, Asst. Commissioners, Tahasil dars and other officials provided necessary information to the team.

source: http://www.StarofMysore.com / Home> General News / November 09th, 2012

MNREGA, panacea for coffee plantations?

Agriculture, Coffee News, Coffee, Kodagu (Coorg)


Extra hands needed: Shortage of quality labour has affected coffee plantations in the State. File photo: Sampath Kumar G.P. / The Hindu
Parliamentary panel recommends extending job scheme to overcome labour shortage

A Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce has recommended extension of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) to plantations to overcome labour shortage in the sector, particularly in Karnataka.

The 31-member panel, headed by Shanta Kumar, in its report titled ‘Performance of Plantation Sector – Tea and Coffee Industry’, suggested to the Union Commerce Ministry to extend the job scheme to coffee plantations to take up various works such as construction of water tanks, groundwater and soil management.

Coffee is a highly labour-intensive crop requiring about 400 man days per hectare per year for Arabica and 300 man days per hectare per year for Robusta.

The panel said, “There has been a serious shortage of workers in plantation areas due to employment opportunities generated by MNREGA and due to migration of work

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Nagesh Prabhu / Bangalore, October 11th, 2012

Tribals will not be evicted from sacred groves: Minister

About Kodagu / Coorg, Agriculture, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Nature

‘Hobli-level janasamparka meeting likely to be extended to State’

Hundreds of people thronged to the Janasamparka meeting held at Kutta Kodava Samaja on Saturday, seeking solution for their various problems.

The people found solution to the problems related to delay in distribution of ration cards, Sandhya suraksha yojana, pension for senior citizens, honorarium for widow and so on.
Speaking after inaugurating, District-in-Charge Minister M P Appachu Ranjan said that the government wants to reach out the programmes to the beneficiaries.

The Minister said that ‘sacred groves will be conserved. There was a need to provide basic facilities. In the name of conserving sacred groves, tribals will not be evicted.”
Deputy Chief Minister K S Eshwarappa is planning to extend the model hobli-level janasamparka meeting to the entire state.

“Janasamparka is nothing but taking the government to the people,” he said.
Assembly Speaker K G Bopaiah flayed the forest department officials for preventing the forest dwellers of Devamacchi forest from offering pooja in the temples.

The Forest Rights Act provides an opportunity for the forest dwellers to lead a comfortable life. Pseudo environmentalists are responsible for fire in Nagarahole reserve forest.

By propagating false rumours, they are engaged in getting funds from foreign countries. “Forest is house for the forest dwellers. They will not engage in setting fire on the forest. The forest has been conserved by the dwellers and not by the pseudo environmentalists.”

Various schemes were distributed among 3,440 beneficiaries on the occasion. This includes Sandhya Suraksha scheme, pension for widow and physically challenged, natural calamity relief fund, Bhagyalakshmi bond, fodder kit, ration cards, nutrition food for the tribals, financial assistance for the students, housing schemes and so on.

Cheques were distributed to 1,796 families under natural calamity relief fund.
Zilla Panchayat Vice-President H M Kaveri, Additional DC Dr N Shivashankar, SP Manjunath Annigeri, ZP CEO K B Anjanappa and others were present.

source: http://www.DeccanHerald.com / Home> District / DH News Service / Madikeri, September 30th, 2012

Karnataka explores cloud seeding to increase water in Cauvery

Agriculture, Green Initiatives / Environment, Science & Technology

Bangalore, OCT. 2:

The State Government is exploring cloud seeding method to increase water inflow in the Cauvery basin.

“Cloud seeding has been planned in Cauvery catchment areas – Kodagu and Hassan,” Water Resources Minister Basavaraj Bommai told reporters.

“The government has already set aside Rs 5 crore for this and will shortly call for both technical and financial bids,” he added.

The State is taking the assistance of Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune. The institute is to offer technical assistance. Water Resources Development Organisation (WRDO) has been roped in to be the nodal agency to coordinate the cloud seeding project. Earlier in July, the State government had decided in favour of cloud seeding in the Cauvery basin, but abandoned it as the catchment area experienced good rains.

“Since the State is in a precarious position now due to the Supreme Court and the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) orders, we have revived the cloud seeding project,” Bommai said.

Water inflow into Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) is 10,000 cusecs and outflow is around 9,000 cusecs.

Current storage level at KRS is estimated at 68 TMCft. Bommai said, “For drinking water and irrigation needs in the Cauvery basin we need around 150 TMCft.”

anil.u@thehindu.co.in

source: http://www.TheHinduBusinessLine.com / Home> Industry & Economy> Government & Policy / The Hindu’s Bureau / Bangalore, October 02nd, 2012

Wildlife film fests to showcase Maharashtra’s biodiversity

Agriculture, Coffee News, Nature

Nagpur:
At a time when coal mining and other detrimental projects are posing a severe threat to forest and wildlife, state forest department has decided to promote its rich biodiversity and wildlife through film festivals.

This will be for the first time wildlife film festivals will be organized in cities by the forest department with the help of Nature Walk, Pune. The proposal has already been approved by principal secretary (forests) Praveen Pardeshi. The schedules and detailed programme will be worked out at a meeting to be held in Mumbai on Thursday.

R R Sahay, additional principal chief conservator of forests (APCCF) for information and technology and policy, said, “It’s an attempt to give impetus to forest and wildlife. We have asked our officials to coordinate with Nature Walk.”

The festivals will be organized not only in cities like Aurangabad, Solapur, Nashik, Kolhapur and Nagpur as proposed by the Nature Walk, but in other places too, Sahay told TOI. Nature Walk has a collection of around 900 films that showcase wildlife, forest and biodiversity of our country. “We in Pune hold wildlife film festivals that are highly appreciated by the common man. There is huge viewership of wildlife on channels like Discovery and National Geographic, but these channels don’t promote much about our region,” said Anuj Khare, honorary district wildlife warden of Pune.

Khare feels these festivals will not only help create awareness but will help brand building. The publicity wing of the forest department will help with auditorium or a school hall of a capacity of at least 500 people with a good audio system. The forest officials will also help in making other arrangements.

“Plan is to hold such festivals on Saturdays and Sundays where Nature Walk team will screen the films. The films will be first introduced and then a post-screening discussion will be held. We can also have a morning nature walk on one of the days. This will help build goodwill of forest department,” Khare felt.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Nagpur / by Vijay Pinjarkar, TNN / September 27th, 2012

Government creates new buffer zones

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Coffee, Kodagu (Coorg), Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature

Madikeri:

The Karnataka government has declared 562.41 sq km area in Kodagu and Mysore districts as buffer zones. This was officially announced by the forest, ecology and environment department undersecretary Umadevi through a notification dated August 14, 2012.

Kodagu wildlife deputy conservator of forests K T Hanumanthappa said that there will be no restriction on villagers who live near buffer zones. This notification is mainly to protect tigers in the tiger zone. If it is an eco-sensitive zone, some restrictions will be imposed. The buffer zone allows wild animals to move in the limits of the buffer zone, he explained.

Planters fear that the creation of buffer zones will affect coffee and pepper cultivation. Nagarahole range forest officer Mandanna said that the safari has already been stopped following the Supreme Court order.

Hunsur wildlife A C F K D Belliappa has directed residents living around buffer zone areas not to graze their cattle in the restricted area and not to collect firewood as the wildlife act applies in these areas.

The declared buffer zone areas include 24.74 sqkm in Periayapatna taluk,109.09 sqkm of Hunsur thaluk, 228.01 sqkm of H D kote taluk in Mysore district covering a total area of 361.84 sqkm in Mysore district. The buffer zone coverage in Kodagu district is 200.57 sqkm.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Mangalore> Mysore / TNN, September 27th, 2012

Impact of agro-forest management on animal diversity in Kodagu district

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Coffee, Kodagu (Coorg), Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature

Bangalore:

Traditionally coffee in the Western Ghats, as in other tropical regions, is grown under the shade of non-native trees.Such plantations ensure ecological continuity, providing habitat for many species outside protected reserves.

A study by Ayyapan Narayanan of the Department of Ecology, French Institute of Pondicherry, conducted in three different habitats, evaluated the impact of agro-forest management on animal diversity in the Kodagu district of Karnataka. The study was conducted in the preserved forests, coffee plantation with native trees and coffee plantations with non-native trees. Researchers said the objective of the study was to evaluate the impact of the agrosystems in comparison to the forest on local singing animal diversity by employing a passive acoustic method. For each habitat type, four locations were sampled using automatic acoustic recorders.

The acoustic data was then analysed using two indices without using species identification. Differences among habitat types were assessed by comparing the acoustic activity level with non-parametric tests and by including acoustic dissimilarities into multivariate analyses.

source: http://www.m.timesofindia.com / City> Bangalore / by Saswati Mukherjee / September 26th, 2012

Trenches, solar fences to check jumbo menace

Agriculture, Business & Economy

Madikeri:
The forest department has decided to install solar fences and dig trenches to check the elephant menace in Kodagu district.

Elaborating on the measures, Kodagu conservator of forests Brijeshkumar Dixith said the department has planned to install solar fences across 71km in Nagarahole-Thithimathi range and for 41km in Dubare range.

The fences will be powered with 5KV to 7KV electricity. Small sheds will be erected at a distance of 3km each along the fence to check and maintain the power lines. The sheds will have the control switches to regulate power.

The department has decided to rope in estate owners for manning the sheds.

Estate owners will be asked to spare a labourer, who will visit the shed every morning and evening to check the switches and regulate power supply.

The department will pay the worker Rs 1,000 per month. This arrangement will spare the department from engaging additional staff for manning the sheds.

In places where the department cannot install solar fences, 3m-wide trenches will be dug. But before taking up these works, Dixith said the department will drive the elephants towards the forest area, away from the village and town boundaries, and a special forest squad has been formed for the purpose.

In North Kodagu especially the Sakaleshpur-Kodagu border, the department has sought permission for tranquilizing and capturing wild elephants.

When questioned about teak cultivation in forest area depleting food for animals, Dixith said it was a wrong notion. “Elephants eat the bark of teak. Also, a variety of bamboo is grown everywhere in Kodagu, which is consumed by elephants,” he said.

On the scarcity of water inside the forest, he said a project will be proposed to repair and rejuvenate all the mud-covered and neglected streams and ponds inside the forest area.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Mysore / TNN / August 30th, 2012