Hyderabad, April 23: Alarmed at the shrinking vegetable plantation in Rangareddy district, that led to a whopping demand-supply gap of nine lakh tonne a day, the district officials have urged the State Government to declare the district a Special Horticulture Zone (SHZ) to make rapid amends to the situation.
The demand for vegetables is around 12 lakh metric tonne per day in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts but the yield in RR district, the main supply source, is only around three lakh tonne thus rendering these areas totally dependent on imports. And officials say the situation is likely to worsen in the coming years for various reasons, including the gobbling up of large tracts of land by the real estate and construction industry.
Out of 2.3 lakh hectare of cultivable land in the district, 55,000 hectare is used for horticulture of which 28,000 hectare is catered to vegetable growing.
“The SHZ proposal, estimated to cost Rs 700 crore, was forwarded to the government a few days ago,” Assistant Director of Horticulture Devamuni Reddy said.
As per the proposal, farmers will be encouraged to grow horticulture crops by offering 80 percent subsidy on shade nets, `palli house,’ fertilisers, seeds, pesticides and tools. “In the first year, we propose to bring in an additional 8,000 hectare under horticulture. Based on the response, steps will be taken to further increase the crop area,” Devamuni explained.
The proposal also includes establishment of terminal markets with cold storage facilities at Shamshabad, Shankerpalli, Ibrahimpatnam, Medchal and Chevella.
However, on the flip side, horticulture plantation has a higher risk of failure than the traditional crops like paddy and pulses.
“The supply should rise to meet the demand of one crore population of both the districts. The real estate and construction activity have impacted farming in the district in the last few years,” felt an official.
At present, the city is dependant for its supplies of vegetables like potato, onion, lady’s finger, drumstick, ridged and bitter gourd on Kurnool and East Godavari besides other States like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
The SHZ status to RR district was first mooted by Agriculture Minister N Raghuveera Reddy and how seriously he is going to pursue the issue remains to be seen.
–Agencies