What are the food habits of the people living in Dantewada in Chhattisgarh?

Answer 1

A new green revolution is awaiting to take place in insurgency-infested Dantewada district of Bastar with local farmers increasingly adopting organic farming methods.

Under the Agriculture Minister effort the agriculture sector of Dantewada are doing well.

During the last two years, the number of farmers switching to organic methods of cultivation in the district has increased from 300 to 1000 due to the constant support of the Chhattisgarh Government, officials stated.

The acreage under organic farming has also increased from 240 hectares to 700 hectares. The district administration has started 'Mocho Baari' (My Home) project for the farmers of Balood, Bhusaraas and four other villages.

The per head average production of paddy in the district is increased as well. Earlier, it was about 15 to 20 quintals but now it is around 43 quintals.

The district administration is mulling to supply the locally grown organic rice to one of the malls of the State capital. Meanwhile, a group of organic farmers of the district have started selling their products in the market.

The administration is providing irrigational facilities to the farmers under the Mocho Baari scheme.

Farmer Hirma Kosa of Surnar village said their earning was limited with the traditional farming mode but the scenario has changed after adapting the organic farming methods.

Moreover, the Chhattisgarh Government's Rural Engineering Service Department would be setting up a Store and a Cafe for selling organic products in Dantewada district headquarters.

A low cost, eco-friendly and energy efficient 'Green Building' would be constructed for opening the Store and Cafe, officials stated.

The green building would be established using locally available materials.

Significantly in the month of April this year, the Panchayat body of the insurgency-infested Dantewada district also took up the task of promoting organic farming among the cultivators of the region.

In a meeting of the General Administration Committee held here, District Panchayat President Kamla Vinay Nag has asked the Panchayat members to massively promote organic farming in the region.

In Dantewada district, organic farming has already altered the direction and way of 2,000-year-old traditional agricultural practices of farmers residing in villages such as Bhusaras, Hiranaar and Surnaar of Bastar region.

With their unique way of farming, without using hybrid seeds, fertiliser, insecticides, and modern and costly farm implements, the farmers of these villages have produced 4-5 times more crops. Because of the agricultural practice here, the Central Government has declared Dantewada district a 'Model for organic farming,' officials stated.

The district administration, through forest produce committees, has purchased paddy produced grown using organic farming methods at a higher price than the support price. The success of this practice which started with 300 farmers has highly attracted other farmers of the district towards organic farming.

Encouraged with the result, the district administration last year was considering establishing a company of bio paddy producing farmers, so that the farmers do not depend on the market power and decide the price of their produce on their own.

Chhattisgarh now has set a target of promoting cultivation of vegetables in 4,425 hectares of land under National Horticulture Mission.

An amount of Rs175 crore had been earmarked for implementing its Annual Plan 2015-16 under National Horticulture Mission in Chhattisgarh.

The annual plan was endorsed in a meeting of the 12th Working Committee of the State Horticulture Development Society chaired by Additional Chief Secretary of Agriculture Department Ajay Singh .

The plan comprised a target for cultivating vegetables in an area of 4,425 hectares for which a provision of Rs15.16 crore was proposed. A provision of Rs13.50 crore had been made to promote vegetable cultivation in the State.

A target of 2,500 hectares had been set for growing condiment based crops while a target of 2,240 hectares had been set for Floriculture .

A provision of Rs4.50 crore had also been made for carrying out organic farming and Rs1.52 crore for promotion of bee keeping.This apart, a provision of Rs1.12 crore had been made to develop new water sources.

Last year, the Chhattisgarh Government had embarked on an 'Organic Farming Mission' on an experimental basis in five districts of the State namely Kanker, Koriya, Raigarh, Raipur and Dantewada, officials said.

The National Agriculture Development Scheme is being implemented since year 2007-08 with objectives of expanding cultivation area of fruits, vegetables and spice crops and supplying advanced high-quality seeds to farmers. Earlier, under Shakhambari Scheme, subsidy was provided for only electricity and diesel based irrigation pumps but now farmers using petrol based irrigation pumps are also eligible for availing subsidy under this scheme, they stated.

The Government had been providing free seeds and fertilizers to the tribal families holding forest rights certificates.The arrangements for free distribution of seeds and fertilizers have also been made.

Agriculture Service Centres have been established in every development block of the State from where the farmers are provided agricultural equipment on rent. Soon Soil Quality Card Distribution Scheme will also be started to inform the farmers about quality and type of soil in their farms. Under this scheme, soil quality cards will be distributed to all 37 lakh farmers of State in coming five years.

The State Government has turned to promoting use of more organic fertilisers among farmers after seeing potential of high demand for organic farming products in global market.

In the current Kharif season, 9.43 lakh metric tonnes of fertilizers of different types have been distributed to farmers.

The State Government's Agriculture Department has set the goal of distributing nearly 11 lakh metric tonnes of organic fertilisers to farmers this year.

As many as 19.58 lakh packets of organic fertiliser have also been distributed to farmers of the State.

A State-level Monitoring cell was established at the Directorate of Agriculture in Raipur to keep track of the availability of basic ingredients for the Kharif season 2015.

The move was to ensure farmers are made available urea, seeds, high-quality farm implements, organic manure and other necessary material on time, officials stated.

The cold chain capacity created by the Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries in Chhattisgarh stood at 8500 metric tonnes (MT) till April 2015, officials stated.

In a power point presentation on Prospects of Cold Chain Infrastructure in Eastern Region on April 6, 2015, the Ministry has spelled out its plans of taking up a total of 500 Integrated Cold Chain projects as per the modified pattern of the Central assistance during the next five years across the country to create capacity of 2.5 million tonnes.

The core objective of the projects is to make the scheme of cold chain value addition and preservation infrastructure open ended.