The Left Front government in West Bengal has sought a loan of $300 million from the World Bank for minor irrigation schemes over 213,500 acres farm land in 18 districts. The plan also involves recovery of at least 28,000 minor irrigation works that have fallen into disrepair. |
The loan has been sought under the Bank's country assistance scheme, with the state government promising auxiliary services like roads, marketing services, credit services and market access for farmers in these areas. |
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According to sources in the World Bank, the state government's project report says there are a large number of landless agricultural workers in the state without any hope of moving beyond their present state. |
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Hence, future agricultural growth and increase in rural incomes will have to come from increased land and labour productivity brought by agricultural intensification and diversification, says the report. Increased rural incomes will also result in increased market access in rural areas, the report adds. |
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The report gives a background of the agricultural sector in the state. "Agricultural growth over the past decade was over 4 per cent, one of the highest in the country. There is, however, little scope for increasing the cultivable area of 5.854 million ha. Due to continued fragmentation, 76.4 per cent landholdings are now below one hectare and 16.8 per cent fall in the 1.0 hectare to 2.0 hectare category. Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) constitute 31 per cent of the population and hold 26 per cent of land resources," says the report. |
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Thus, the only option for the government is to increase rural income through increase in productivity and intensification in present land holdings, it says. |
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