BHUBANESWAR: Having witnessed a quantum rise in the production of horticulture crops in the last 10 years, the State Government has now decided to lay emphasis on floriculture, coconut and banana crops. Three new schemes - floriculture development, coconut development, banana development - besides inter-cropping have been introduced under the State plan for the current financial year.

Nagpur In a significant verdict, the Bombay High Court has ruled that wild animals including tiger should be treated as "government property for all purposes" and any damage caused by them should be compensated by the Government.

If a wild animal causes loss to an agriculturist or a citizen, it would be the responsibility of the appropriate Government to make good the loss," a division bench comprising Justices Sharad Bobde and Prasanna Varale ruled, before directing the government to pay damages of Rs 3.84 lakh to a Wardha farmer whose crops were damaged due to presence of tigers in the area.

The District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), Vellore has adopted a cluster approach in undertaking various works under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in order to enable more villagers to get employment, according to N. Srinivasan, Project Officer of the DRDA.

Talking to newspersons at the Alangulam irrigation tank in Melappulam village panchayat in Arcot panchayat union where the work of deepening of the tank under MGNREGS was under progress on Wednesday, Mr. Srinivasan said that if there are more than 200 workers in a village panchayat, a new cluster would be started, comprising workers from a group of habitations. Under this approach,

The Karnataka Planters' Association (KPA), which is currently holding its coffee area scientific symposium (CASS) in Israel, plans to adopt kibbutz model of drip irrigation for their plantations.

“After visiting the Naan Dan Kibbutz near Tel Aviv, we were able to get a first-hand experience of irrigation facilities created to raise avocado, citrus, banana and mango plantations, installed by Netafim Ltd, one of the largest drip irrigation company,” said Mr Marvin Rodrigues, Chairman of KPA.

The government’s plan of ushering in a green revolution in eastern states doesn’t seem to have taken off in the country’s biggest paddy (de-husked) rice producing state of West Bengal. Till January 20, only 50 per cent of the total funds allocated for the state were released by the Centre.

Officials said a reason for the low funds was the lack of fresh proposals from the state.

Acting on the directives of the Centre, States such as Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana are ready with their annual plans to boost horticulture production.

Besides these States, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa have also drawn the annual action plan for 2012-13 horticulture year, sources in the Agriculture Ministry said.

The Centre has asked the States to ensure that Annual Action Plans for the horticulture year are cleared by April 15, they added.

The damage caused by the havoc wreaked by cyclone Thane in the district has been pegged at Rs 4,000 crore, according to an official of a Central team that inspected the affected areas here. “In total, two lakh hectare of agricultural lands were affected, of which more than over a lakh hectare of lands are in Cuddalore district. In this district alone, the worth of damages would be pegged at Rs 4000 crore approximately,” said the official from the nine-member team led by joint secretary in Ministry of Home Affairs Lokesh Jha.

Off the Ukkadam – Sundakkamuthur Road, about a km away, in the midst of banana farms lie three or four thatched roofed temporary structures.

At first sight they appear to be houses or sheds for watchmen. But they are not. They are not even mushroom cultivation farms, as a board outside one of the sheds claims. They are yarn dyeing units.

Petitioner seeks debt relief for farmers
A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court issued notice to the Centre and State governments on a public interest writ petition seeking a directive to take steps to save the farmers in Wayanad from debt-trap and to prevent them from committing suicide.

The Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice P.R. Ramachandra Menon issued notice when the petition filed by High Court lawyer Basil Attipety came up for hearing.

GUWAHATI, Oct 28 – People should find an effective alternative to banana plants as lamp posts during the Diwali, or else, it will continue to incur loss of crores of rupees every year. This is the observation made by Dr NK Mohan, a former Chief Scientist of the Assam Agricultural Univer-sity’s (AAU’s) Kahikuchi-based Horticultural Research Station.