AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION

MANURES

The common practice in the district is to manure the fields with cattle-dung, dung of sheep and goats, farm refuse and stable litter. The farmers have since long realised the utility of manuring the fields but have, all the same, been unable to act on it due to the scarcity of indigenous manures on the one hand and the relatively prohibitive cost of chemical fertilisers on the other. Furthermore, lack of education and general apathy of farmers to adjust to a change are no less important factors in point. Cattle-dung is usually used by those who have stall-fed cattle or by those who are in a position to purchase cattle-dung. However, as cakes of cattle-dung are very commonly used as fuel in rural areas, there is a dearth of cattle-dung for manurial purposes. The dung and the urine of sheep and goats are valuable manures and owners, usually the dhangars, of flocks of these animals move from village to village and are paid in cash to halt the animals in fields continuously for two or three nights. Moreover, organic manures flow from the forest to the fields which are thus enriched.

Compost manure.

Of late, the conversion of town and farm refuse into compost manure is becoming more common, particularly after the inauguration of the '"Grow More Food Campaign", in 1945-46. Pits are dug and filled with farm refuse, cattle-dung, stable litter, etc., and the contents are allowed to decompose. The pits are opened after a year and the farm-yard manures thus produced become available for distribution among farmers. The present production of farm-yard manures is estimated at around 34,000 tons per annum. The manure contains 0.5 per cent of nitrogen. The Agriculture Department has been propagating better methods of manure composting and if these methods are adopted, it may be possible for the Department to increase not only the total outturn of farm-yard manure but also the nitrogen contents from 0.5 to 1.0 per cent. Till recently, the Department used to subsidise the farmers to the extent of two rupees per pit, 10'x 6'x 3' by size with a view to inducing them to adopt improved methods of compost-making. Town refuse is also utilised for preparing compost manures by a few municipalities in the district and the production thereof amounts to 2,000 tons per annum.

The Agriculture Department also distributes groundnut cakes, manure mixtures and fertilisers, as and when required by the farmers. The application of groundnut cakes to food crops gives an increase of about thirty per cent in the yield. The Agriculture Department distributed 800 tons of groundnut cake, 5,000 tons of manure mixture, 2,000 tons of ammonium sulphate and 50 tons of super-phosphate in 1955-56. Formerly, the distribution of the material used to be done at a concessional rate so as to facilitate the farmer to give frequent top-dressings to the fields. However, these facilities are gradually being withdrawn.

No crop rotation is practised, as paddy is the only main crop taken in the district. However, val, gram, a few other pulses and sann hemp are often taken as a second crop after paddy in the low-lying areas of the district.

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