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.

Drought and disease have devastated life of coconut growers in the district. Rubbing salt into their wounds is the slump in price of copra and coconut.

Various diseases, including pest attack and stem bleeding, have ravaged crops on thousands of acres. Coconut trees in the rain-fed regions of Madhugiri, Pavagad, Sira and Koratagere have withered, leaving the distraught farmers in debt trap. The diseases have destroyed crop in and around 15 acres of plantation at Baragur in Chikkanayakanahalli taluk and scores of acres in Hosakere, Nittur, CS Pur hoblis in Gubbi taluk

Tiny Pacific nations which are most at threat from rising seas have vowed to dump diesel and other dirty expensive fuels blamed for causing global warming and replace them with clean sources.

Using coconut biofuel and solar panels, Tokelau — which consists of three island dots half way between New Zealand and Hawaii — plans to become self-sufficient in energy this year.

The leaders of other so-called small island states around the world made commitments at a meeting this week organised by the UN Development Programme and the Barbados government.

To arrest the rapid trend of Kerala farm workers abandoning the arduous job of coconut climbing, the Coconut Development Board (CDB) has launched a trained army of coconut climbers, under the brand of ‘friends of coconut tree’. With traditional climbers switching over to other less laborious jobs, and youngsters turning indifferent towards it, coconut climbing has taken a heavy toll in Kerala. In many parts of the state, coconut harvesting takes place only once in three or four months against the mandatory exercise in every 45 days.

CHENNAI: Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Saturday announced a comprehensive special package worth `790.18 crore for farmers in Cuddalore and Villupuram districts, the worst affected in Cyclone Thane. While `65.22 crore has been allotted for agricultural crops, `724.96 crore will be givenfor horticultural crops.

Kerala, where farmers are faced with prospects of poor yield and low income, could well take cues from the success story of a farmer who is earning a net annual income of Rs. 3.5 lakh from two hectares land by adopting integrative farm techniques and optimum resource utilisation.

C. N. Narayana Hebbar (43), hailing from Bela in Badiadka Panchayath in the district has set himself as a role model for the cash-strapped farmers in the State thanks to the synergistic integration of enterprises and optimum resource utilisation.

The growing need for land for industrial and residential purposes has resulted in lands under agriculture shrinking by 10 to 15 per cent per annum in Coimbatore, Erode and Tirupur districts.

Top officials in the Agriculture Department, pointing out to the statistics discussed by the State Planning Commission at its recent meetings, say that in these districts, the total extent of land under agriculture has come down by 1.50 lakh hectares over the last three years.

The Coir Board has got the Indian Road Congress approval for use of coir geo-textiles in rural road construction.

This followed the success achieved by the Central Coir Research Institute in using the versatile material for road construction.

A project for using coir geo textiles in construction of 50 km of road each in 9 States has been taken up for implementation.

This will open up a vast market for coir geo textiles and pave way for enhanced utilisation of coconut husk, according to Mr V.S. Vijayaraghavan, Chairman, Coir Board.

The dept of horticulture has produced about 1.6 mn microbes that feed on pests
The coconut growers in the district are left in lurch after the black head pest attack on the coconut crop. Coco crop spread across at least 2500 hectares have been infested with the pest reducing the quality of the crop.