Agriculture Department takes this step to motivate Paddy Growers in Coastal Districts

August 1: The Agriculture Department has invited applications from paddy growers in coastal districts for the incentive ‘Karavali Package’ for in order to promote paddy cultivation.
An amount of Rs 7,500 a hectare will be given to farmers of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada, to motivate them to cultivate paddy under the scheme.
A press release from Seetha, joint director of the Agriculture Department stated that paddy is grown in the coastal districts in the rainy season. It is difficult to maintain the fertility of the soil in the low-lying areas of the coastal districts. The production cost of paddy is high, owing to less land holdings and shortage of labourers. Owing to increase in production cost, the area under paddy cultivation has, therefore, declined over the years.
To avail the‘Karavali package’, a farmer should own pahani of rain-fed paddy cultivation. He or she should own the land, which has been attested by the Revenue Department. If the land is owned by two persons, one applicant can avail of the benefit. The farmers should have taken up direct swing or drum seeder sowing or mechanised transplantation of paddy to avail of the Karavali package. Further, priority will be given for cultivating indigenous variety of paddy – ‘kaempu akki’, ‘kari kagga’ and ‘bili kagga’.