Srinagar , May 1: Taking a new initiative in maize cultivation, the directorate of agriculture Kashmir provided 800 demonstration plots of hybrid maize seeds of four kanals each to the farmers.
 The initiative was taken at Maize Mela- Hybrid Maize Cultivation Campaign, organized by the J&K agriculture department on Saturday at the SKICC here.
 The mela was inaugurated by Ghulam Hassan Mir, minister of Agriculture, who was the chief guest on the occasion.
 Speaking on the occasion, Mir said this year hybrid maize seeds shall be sown on 32,000 kanals of land in Kashmir and on the same chunk of land in Jammu .  
 Director Agriculture Mian Abdul Majeed said the purpose of having demonstration plots was to boost the maize production so as to set up the poultry feed making industry over here. “The hybrid maize seed is having four times more yielding potential. If one hectare produces 20 quintals of maize under normal conditions, with this seed 80 to 100 quintals shall be produced per hectare,” he said.
 Mian said the annual requirement of maize in the Valley was 13.50 lakh tons, of which 5.50 lakh tons were being imported from the outside. “And out of 7.50 lakh tons of our own production, the contribution of maize is only 25 per cent,” he said.
 “The department this year has provided around 800 quintals of maize seeds to the farmers for Kharif season, of which 500 quintals form those seeds that have got the potential of producing 80 quintals per hectare,” said Mian, adding that Valley had favourable environment and climatic conditions for maize cultivation.
 The director informed that one lakh hectares of land in the Valley were under maize cultivation, which was the second highest after paddy that is 1.60 lakh hectares. Irrigated area under maize cultivation was 19,000 hectares and unirrigated area was 81,000 hectares, he said.
 He said during 2009-10, the maize production of the Valley was 1.20 metric tons, which was less by 40,000 metric tons because of drought. “And this year we have set a target for 1.80 metric tons,” he said.
 He said this year the department has provided 45 bore wells valuing Rs 4 lakh each and 15 shallow wells valuing Rs 26,000 each on 50 per cent subsidy to the farmers.
 Earlier, Ghulam Nabi Adfar of Agriculture department said the purpose of the mela was to spread knowledge about maize cultivation. “Since this is the right season for sowing maize seeds, we thought we should provide a forum of interaction for scientists and farmers with regard to maize cultivation,” he said.
 Meanwhile, hybrid maize seeds were distributed among farmers on the occasion. Representatives of some seed companies shared their thoughts on the occasion and briefed farmers about benefits of the seeds of their respective companies.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 1 May 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 1 May 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 2 May 2010 00:00:00 IST