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USAID administrator Rajiv Shah (left) with Ficci president Harsh Mariwala in New Delhi on Tuesday. (PTI)
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New Delhi, Dec. 20: USAID will help India to set up 30 agriculture hubs in the eastern region that will disseminate farm know-how, high quality seeds and contain food processing units.
“We will provide technical assistance in setting up 30 agri hubs in the eastern states of India to help the region achieve the second green revolution,” USAID administrator Rajiv Shah said at a CII function here today. The Centre had unveiled plans to set up such centres in the budget.
Officials said the US agency would provide technical assistance, know-how, better quality seeds, improved farming techniques, soil testing facilities and suggest ways for the optimal utilisation of water. The number of hubs in each state or the sites are yet to be identified. Officials said the numbers could change depending on the response from the farmers.
Shah, the highest-ranking Indian-American in the Obama administration, said US was interested in promoting partnership especially in the farm sector through engagements with private enterprises, research centres and institutions such as the CII.
“Bihar, whose almost 80 per cent population is dependent on agriculture, continues to suffer from agricultural backwardness. We would like to assist it and other states in the eastern areas to help them achieve agricultural growth,” Shah said.
Eastern India is the major rice-growing region accounting for about 63 per cent of the total cropped area under the foodgrain, but provides only 48 per cent of the total yield. About 80 per cent of the rice area of eastern India are rain-fed and exposed to stresses such as drought, low soil fertility, flood and stagnant water.
The government has allocated Rs 400 crore in the budget for 2011-12 to help the eastern states usher in a second green revolution.
Of this Rs 400 crore, Bengal got Rs 85.66 crore, a drop of 16.3 per cent from the amount allocated in 2010-11. In contrast, eastern Uttar Pradesh was allocated around Rs 57.27 crore last year but the figure jumped 49.5 per cent to Rs 85.66 crore in 2011-12.
Bihar got Rs 55.33 crore, Jharkhand Rs 31.68 crore, Odisha Rs 62.62 crore, Chhattisgarh Rs 55.21 crore and Assam Rs 33.32 crore.
In all, 126 districts in these states have been selected for the second green revolution.
Land logic
Cultivable land in India has declined around 8 lakh hectare in the last five years because of the shift to non-agricultural uses, Parliament was informed today.
Agricultural land has come down to 1,82,385 thousand hectares during 2008-09 compared with 1,83,186 thousand hectares during 2003-04, minister of state for agriculture Harish Rawat said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
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