OTHER DEPARTMENTS

AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT

Organisation.

The agricultural schemes in the district are jointly implement- ed by the State Government and the Zilla Parishad. All State sector schemes are under the control of Agriculture department in the State sector and the schemes in local sector are implemented by the Zilla Parishad. Schemes such as the taluka seed farm, bunding and land development, the development of local manurial resources, intensive production of vegetables and quick growing varieties of vegetables and fruits for supply to cities, development of cotton, construction of irrigation wells, installation of pumping sets, soil conservation, reclamation of non-coastal saline and alkaline soils, development of oil-seeds, development of sugarcane, air compressor, drilling and blasting scheme, mechanical cultivation by State tractors, bull-dozing scheme and boring scheme are looked after by the State Government while those such as the establishment of agricultural school at Warud in Yeotmal district, hybrid seed programme, plant protection, intensive cultivation, horticultural development, scheme for small holders, reclamation of waste lands belonging to backward class cultivators, irrigation wells for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, construction of prefabricated bandharas, seed processing plants, and scheme for mass training of farmers have been transferred to the Zilla Parishad. The State sector schemes and local sector schemes are implemented by the Divisional Soil Conservation Officer, Yeotmal and the Agricultural Development Officer, Zilla Parishad, respectively.

The Director of Agriculture, Maharashtra State, Pune, is the Head of the department. He is assisted by five Joint Directors of Agriculture who are each incharge of Establishment, Science and Engineering, Research and Education, Horticulture and Intension, respectively.

As regards the State sector schemes, for efficient supervision, two Divisional Soil Conservation Officers have been appointed with headquarters at Yeotmal and Pusad, respectively. The Divisional Soil Conservation Officer, Yeotmal looks after the soil conservation work at Wani, Pandharkawada, Yeotmal and Ner and also after the residuary activities of the district, whereas the Divisional Soil Conservation Officer, Pusad, looks after the soil conservation work at Pusad, Umerkhed, Darwha and Arni and the scheme for small holder's blocks at Pusad. The Divisional Soil Conservation Officers, Yeotmal and Pusad are assisted by the Sub-Divisional Soil Conservation Officers at places mentioned above.

The Agricultural Development Officer, Zilla Parishad, under the administrative control of the Chief Executive Officer, Zilla Parishad, implements the local sector schemes pertaining to agricultural activities. He is assisted by the District Agricultural Officer, the Campaign Officer and the Hybrid Seed Production Officer the last of whom is deputed by the State Government for supervision of Hybrid Seed Production programme.

The Superintending Agricultural Officer, Nagpur Division, Nagpur, is the representative of the Director of Agriculture, Maharashtra State, Pune, for State sector schemes and he is the technical and administrative head of the Division. In addition to the State sector schemes which he implements in the division, he also gives technical advice and guidance to Zilla Parishad as far as agricultural schemes under local sector are concerned. For this purpose the Superintending Agricultural Officer is assisted by four Deputy Directors of Agriculture, Plant Protection Officer, Seed Development Officer, Assistant Horticultural Development Officer, Assistant Statistician, Hybrid Seed Protection Officer and Agricultural Engineer. In addition to the above, the specialists at State level in different branches of Agriculture also give technical guidance regarding the crops in which they have specialised.

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