Agriculture dept to promote millet cultivation

With organically grown products gaining immense popularity, the Department of Agriculture now plans to extend organic farming and millet cultivation in the district.

Agriculture Department Joint Director KMSomasundar said that with people turning health conscious, organically grown ragi (finger millet), navane (foxtail millet), samai (little millet) and others are in great demand.

At present, only a total of 255 acres is under organic cultivation. "We aim to expand the land to 5,000 and 10,000 acres in the days to come," said the JD. Farmers in HDKote, Hunsur and KRNagar taluks have been practising organic farming.

In order to encourage millet cultivation, the department offers a support price of Rs 1,500 per hectare for finger millets and Rs 2,500 for others. Millets can be cultivated during water shortage as the crops are management free and need less water. The marketing scenario for millets has also improved as many private firms are coming forward to procure the products directly from farmers, he said.