Agriculture Department officials inspect mustard plantation project at Sangaithel

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Jan 31: A team of Agriculture Department officials paid a field visit at Sangaithel today to check on the mustard plantation project.
The project has been taken up to harvest mustard seeds under the aegis of the Chief Minister and Agriculture Minister with an aim to keep the barren paddy fields green throughout the year.
The team comprising Agriculture Commissioner RK Dinesh; Director N Gojendro; District Agriculture Officer (DAO) Imphal West, S Kennedy and other officials of the Department expressed contentment to see wide scale mustard plantation in the area.
Speaking in connection with the field visit, N Gojendro maintained that the mustard plantation in Sangaithel has surpassed the actual planned area which is commendable.
He went on to inform that the mustard seeds have been provided to the farmers by the Agriculture Department under National Food Security Mission and Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) to plant these seeds through natural farming and zero tillage method.
Expressing contentment to see the progress, he lauded the sincere and dedicated efforts of the farmers of Sangaithel and surrounding areas.
Responding to a query of the media, he informed that natural farming will be carried out in 10 pari (Manipuri customary unit of measurement of paddy fields) of paddy fields  in each and every district on a trial basis during the summer harvesting season.
Plannings are underway to carry out natural farming in some paddy fields to plant paddy and to use nano-urea in some other paddy fields within a compact zone, he added.
DAO Imphal West S Kennedy while speaking at the occasion, informed that the Department provided mustard seeds to the farmers for its plantation in around 1000 pari of paddy fields in Sangaithel area with an estimated production of around 1400-1500 kgs of mustard seeds in one pari.
However the major concern among the farmers is the non-availability of extracting machines which may put the produce of the farmers at stake, he added.