Icrisat to cover 6 million ha of dry land in AP

It will extend its Bhoochetana programme to include all identified villages in the 13 districts in a phased manner starting with the Rabi season this year

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat), in partnership with the Andhra Pradesh government , would cover six million hectares in the state under its dry land farming programme Bhoochetana.

The programme would be extended to include all identified villages in 13 districts in the state in a phased manner starting with the rabi crop season this year.

“The dry land areas in the state, including Kurnool, Anantapur and some in East Godavari, where crops like groundnut, oil seeds and pulses are cultivated will be part of Bhoochetana,” said SP Wani, assistant director of Dryland Systems at Icrisat. The soil health mapping would be started soon in the state, he added.

Detailed soil mapping of the drylands would be executed followed by issuing of soil health cards.

Depending upon the soil quality, Icrisat, in partnership with the respective state governments supplies required nutrients on subsidy. Interested farmers would be supplied the nutrient inputs at a subsidised rate of Rs 2,000-2,500 per hectare.

The programme aims at enhancing pulses production and thereby improving the farm incomes and its sustainability, he said.

While the soil health mapping was started and almost done in the identified villages in Telangana, the “state government has not come up with clear plans yet,” said Wani.

The programme was successfully implemented for enhancing the livelihoods of 4.57 million dry-land small farmers in Karnataka. State agriculture minister, Krishna Byre Gowda, earlier said dry-land farmers in Karnataka had accrued economic benefits of $230 million in the last four years. Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu were also showing interest in the programme, Wani added.