Imphal: As Manipur government had decided for distribution of paddy seed at free of cost instead of selling at 50 percent subsidy, agriculture minister Oinam Lukhoi Singh handed over district wise allocation of free certified High Yielding Variety (HYV) paddy seed through the concerned district agriculture officers (DAOs) on Sunday.
The paddy seed distribution was held at agriculture godown at Lamphelpat under the programme “Enhancement of Rice Production in the State”.
The programme for free distribution of the HYV paddy seed was mainly focused to reach the target group in the interest and welfare of the farmers in the state. Farmers can procure the seed through the concerned DAOs, the minister said.
He expressed his firm belief that the farmers will in return enhance their production.
The deficit in food grains specially rice in the state is huge and is increasing over the years with the increasing population. The government of Manipur constituted a sub committee for enhancement of rice production in the state on September 7, 2020. After several round of discussion, the sub-committee drawn up and recommended 10 approaches and strategies to increase rice production in the state as given below: Increasing Seed Replacement Rate; Enhancing Varietal Replacement Rate; Increasing Cropping Intensity through Assured Irrigation; Expansion of Effective Irrigation facilities; Adoption of more Intensive Cultivation Practices (SRI/ICM/ Line Planting etc; Maintaining Soil Health and providing judicious Soil Nutrients; Revisiting the Extension Mechanism; Facilitation of Credit, Finance, Crop Insurance; Marketing and creation of Rural Storage infrastructure and Farm Mechanization, he said.
Lukhoi interacted with the concerned DAOs to take stock of the prevailing ground situation of the department in all the districts and also encouraged them to work in the interest and welfare of the farmers in the state.
He inspected the fertilizers godown in the presence of agriculture commissioner M. Joy Singh, agriculture director Kh. Lalmani Singh and officials of the department.
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