JOIN US The farms would serve as centres for cultivation of breeds of horticulture crops, training for farmers and other related activities.
The Government, in the first phase, has invited expression of interest to set up farms in 19 selected places. According to Horticulture Minister Umesh Katti, so far 300 firms had responded to the invitation and the Government was yet to consult the private parties and select them for developing farms.
The Horticulture Department owns about 45,000 acres of land in the State. Of that the Department had decided to set up farms in about 3,300.14 ha in the first phase. The private party would be given lease of the land for about 20 to 30 years.
Katti said the Government would invest along with the private parties on the farm and there would not be any room for them to misuse the land.
Some of the horticulture farms to be developed in the first phase include Dharmaveera Horticulture Farm (494.90 ha) in Chikkanayakanahalli, Tumkur; Dr M H Marigowda farm (430 ha), Koratagere, Tumkur; Ramaswamygudda farm (220 ha), Kunigal, Tumkur; Indra farm (222.13 ha), Madhugiri, Tumkur; Mallasandra Kaval farm (355.02 ha), Nagamangala, Mandya; Charmudi farm (120 ha), Belthangady.
Katti said of the 5,600 total approved posts in the Department 2,300 are vacant. However, there was no need of filling up all the vacant post as many of them had become redundant. “At the most the department requires 500 to 800 posts filled up,” he said.
The total loss of horticulture crops in the floods in north Karnataka has been put at Rs 607 crore. The crops - onion, tomato, grape, lime, pomegranate, banana, chikku, mango, chili and others - grown in 172,491.59 acres were lost in the rains.