E-Paper
City loses cultivable land to industries
Rapid urbanisation coupled with farmers' eagerness to sell their plots for a large sum are taking a toll on the cultivated area of Gurgaon district.
Rapid urbanisation coupled with farmers' eagerness to sell their plots for a large sum are taking a toll on the cultivated area of Gurgaon district.
According to the agriculture department, the area of arable land has shrunk over the years.
"Over the years, due to rapid industrialisation the cultivated land has reduced but the production rate has remained the same and increased this year," BL Kudawla, block agriculture officer, said.
More than 800 square km of total 1200 square km area of the district is under cultivation. Most of the land is used for growing wheat crop. About 2,30,000 tonnes of wheat is produced every season on 50,000 hectares of land.
The agriculture department has taken several measures to improve agricultural output that include introduction of various schemes, holding kisan melas and setting up training schools for farmers.
Under one of such schemes named 'National Food Security Mission (Wheat)', the state government has given farmers a subsidy of Rs167 lakh.
"This scheme was introduced to increase the production of wheat. We have given the farmers a subsidy of Rs75 lakh for sprinkler sets for every 1,000 hectare of land, Rs6.35 lakh for 50 seed drills and Rs58 lakh for 11,700 quintals of wheat certified seeds," Kudawla said.
