The Times of India – Online

The Tana Bhagat community here is gradually embracing modern farming techniques to harvest cash crops on their land in a bid to increase their household incomes. “In order to encourage them to opt for modern farming techniques, 50 families from the community have been given tractors (in a group of five each), along with tillers, threshers and water pumps,” Gumla DC Sushant Gaurav said on Friday. “With mechanised tilling techniques, they are now harvesting cash crops such as ginger, chilli, mustard and gram, besides their mono-cropping yield of paddy,” Gumla district agriculture officer Ashok Sinha said. Tana Bhagats, who are followers of Gandhian principles and descendants of those who took part in Mahatma ...

The New Indian Express – Online

Despite being the leading producer of paddy, cotton and pulses, implementation of various schemes in the central and state sector are adversely affected due to shortage of agriculture officials in Kalahandi district, leaving farmers to fend for themselves. According to a report of Agriculture department, during current Kharif season, paddy is targeted to cover 1,86,961 hectares (ha), maize 17,109 ha, cereals 2,13,370 ha, pulses 65,196 ha, oilseeds 12,690 ha and cotton 73,440 ha. However due to large-scale vacancies in posts of block agriculture officer (BAO) and assistant agriculture officers (AAO), field management and monitoring is getting affected. “These officials play a critical role,” said farmer representative Dipti Narayan Praharaj, adding, Kalahandi has sanctioned ...