Agri dept buys mustard oil worth ' 1.50 crore from farmers
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, March 27 2011: In a move to check spending huge of amounts of money in purchasing seeds for onward supply to the farmers of the state, state Agriculture Department has started buying mustard seed from the farmers of the model seed villages.

The department is going to buy mustard oil for ' 1.5 crore this year for onward distribution to the farmers next season said officials of the department adding that the step has been taken to avoid spending a huge amount of money in buying crop seeds from outside farms through the National Seed Corporation of India.

The department is buying seeds of almost all crops from outside the state and supplying it to the farmers every year, they maintained.

The department started buying mustard seed produced by farmers of Maklang and its surrounding areas where mustard was cultivated at their model seed villages, set up with technical know-how and assistance from the agriculture department.

The seed buying campaign, which kicked off today at Maklang in the presence of Agriculture minister Ph Parijat, will also be conducted in other parts of the state where varieties of crops are cultivated in the model seed villages under the guidance of the department.

At least 32 model seed villages have been established across the state by the department since the launching of its Integrated Pest Management (IPM) method of farming in 2008 .

Ph Parijat, speaking on the occasion informed the farmers that the seed that was bought today will be stored in government godowns.

The department is going to supply mobile mills for oil extraction under its farm mechanization policy.

Once the scheme is launched, farmer will no longer need to go to mills for extraction of oil from their oil seeds.

This will save them extra expenditure, the minister added.

Apart from the agriculture minister, MLAs K Sharat and W Brajabidhu, Letkhogin, commissioner (agriculture), Ph Rajendro, deputy director (soil chemistry-agriculture), deputy director (planning), G Shamu Kabui and officials of the agriculture department took part in the campaign launching function.

Deputy director Ph Rajendro said that mustard was cultivated at around 26 hectares this season under the initiative of the department with a production target of 33,000 matric tones of oil seed.

However, he added, the production target could not be met due to untimely heavy rainfall experienced in the state during the dry season.

Luckily, the heavy rainfall could not damage the fields at Maklang and its surrounding areas where mustard (M-27 variety) was cultivated in 1,150 paris of fields under model seed villages and the produce was around 200 metric tons.

Today, the department bought 300 MT of mustard oil including 100 MT from other farmers of the nearby areas, he added.

MLA K Sharat lauded the effort of the department and said that the sincere effort of the officials of the department will help in improving the economic condition of the farmers of the area as the department had solved the problems of selling their products.

MLA Brajabidhu also praised the department.

Deputy director (planning), G Shamu Kubui appealed to the farmers to enrol in the crop insurance policy of the department so that loss due to natural disasters could be recouped.

He further informed that farmers cultivating paddy and mustard can also get the benefits of the policy.

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