Assam government aims to utilize fallow land in state

Source The Sentinel

Posted on December 11, 2023

Photo By The Sentinel

The state government has taken up several initiatives to utilize
the rice fallow areas in the state, which are left unutilized by
farmers after harvesting Kharif and Sali rice.

GUWAHATI: The state government has taken up several
initiatives to utilize the rice fallow areas in the state, which are
left unutilized by farmers after harvesting Kharif and Sali rice.
It is estimated that the state has around 10 lakh hectares of rice
fallow area. Out of this area of 10 lakh hectares (ha), an area of
around 6 lakh ha has either irrigation availability or residual
moisture availability.

Currently, the area under mustard cultivation is only 2.87 lakh
ha, and the production of mustard oil from this area is around
1.85 lakh metric tonnes (MT). This is able to meet only 20% of
the state’s edible oil requirement. The government, therefore,
plans to bring another 4 lakh ha of area under cultivation with
high-yielding varieties, scientific practices, and the technical
support of ICAR-DRMR in the next four years. With this
expansion, the state will be able to produce an additional 6 lakh
MT, which is expected to meet the remaining 80% gap in
demand.

Also Read – Don’t sell land to people of doubtful nationality:
Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma
As for the expansion of pulse cultivation, it is stated that the
current pulses area is only about 1.42 lakh hectares, and
production is 1.09 lakh MT. In order to meet the state’s demand
for pulses, the state agriculture department plans to bring an
additional 3 lakh ha under pulses cultivation. With the area
expansion, along with productivity enhancement through highyielding varieties and a scientific package of practices, the total
production of pulses is expected to increase to 3.5 lakh MT.
This will enable the state to meet its total requirement for pulses
through in-house production.

and is also used to make silage. The current area under maize
cultivation in the state is 45,000 ha, and production is around 1
lakh MT. This area is planned to be increased to 2.7 lakh ha in
the next four years. Supplemented by high-yielding hybrid
varieties and the technical support of the Indian Institute of
Maize Research (IIMR), the targeted production is around 7.3
lakh MT after four years. This is expected to largely feed into
the state’s silage-making requirements and also new projects
like ethanol production.
Also Read – 10 districts of Assam not to have exam centres;
candidates in quandary
The current potato cultivation area in the state is around 1 lakh
ha, and the production of tubers is around 7.5 lakh MT. An
additional area of 3 lakh ha is planned to be brought under
potato cultivation, to be accommodated through the introduction
of short- and medium-duration rice varieties in the sali season.
With this expansion, the state is projected to produce around 30
lakh MT after four years. These efforts by the Agriculture
Department are being supported by the International Potato
Centre under the Assam Agribusiness Rural Transformation
Project (APART) for the next two years.
With the expansion in the cultivation area of mustard, pulses,
maize, and potato in the state, there will be dual purposes
served: utilization of lakhs of hectares of rice fallow areas and
making the state self-sufficient in the production of these crops
at the same time.