Report of the Joint Inspection Team on its visit to Rajasthan during 3rd October to 9th October, 2013 & 20th December to 27th December, 2013 to review the progress under the National Horticulture Mission Districts visited by J.I.T of National Horticulture Mission 1. Jodhpur 2. Jaisalmer 3. Barmer 4. Jaipur 5. Tonk 6. Sawai Madhopur 7. Karauli National Horticulture Mission Ministry of Agriculture Department of Agriculture & Cooperation Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi-110001 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS _____________________________________________________________________ Item Page No_____________ Actionable issues and Observations made by JIT 3-7 INTRODUCTION 8 STATE PROFILE OF RAJASTHAN 8-13 Status of Horticulture in Rajasthan 13-30 VISIT OF JIT IN RAJASTHAN Visit to Jodhpur district 31-34 Visit to Jaisalmer 35-38 Visit to Barmer 38-40 Visit to Jaipur 40-44 Visit to Tonk 44-49 Visit to Sawai Madhopur 50-53 Visit to Karauli 53-53 Centre of Excellence for date Palm 54-55 Wrap up meeting with Commissioner (Agri.) and Secretary 55-58 (Agri.) Annexures ANNEXURE – I : Jodhpur District ANNEXURE – II : Jaisalmer District ANNEXURE – III : Barmer District ANNEXURE – IV : Jaipur District ANNEXURE – V : Tonk District ANNEXURE – VI : Sawai Madhopur District ANNEXURE – VII : Karauli District ANNEXURE – VIII Photographs 2 ACTIONABLE ISSUES Farmers and field staff need to be imparted training on protected cultivation, green house production technologies, canopy management and integrated pest management practices. Year wise training module and calendar needs to be developed. Moreover, farmers and field functionaries need exposure visits to progressive States for gaining firsthand knowledge on latest technologies in horticulture development. JIT felt that Pomegranate needs to be included in the crop cluster of Barmer district as the potential of pomegranate plantation exists. During visit of JIT, it was noticed that Senior Horticulture Officers were not available for interaction in Barmer district. SHM may ensure that officers are invariability present at their respective headquarters during the visit of JIT. SHM (HQ) should keep the district authorities updated on project proposal sanctioned / approved in their respective districts. Headquarter and district authorities have to work in mission mode. Frequent monitoring by Senior Level Officer involved with SHM activities is anticipated. Periodic visits of official to the beneficiary site were also suggested for providing technical support to farmers. Proper action needs to be initiated for producing elite planting material of pomegranate in relation to its demand. SHM should ensure that the authentic planting materials given to the beneficiaries with tagged properly. JIT noticed that inferior quality of plants, yielding unmarketable pomegranate fruits in Tonk district were provided to the beneficiary. Leakage in faulty construction of water pond without silt trap chamber was observed in Jodhpur and Barmer districts. It was suggested that matter may be taken up with the construction agencies for immediate repairs. Since area under pomegranate and datepalm is expanding rapidly in the State, package of practice for crops needs to be disseminated to the farmers for getting better yield. Farmers as well as field functionaries need to be trained on various aspects of its cultivation. There is good demand for micro irrigation system in the State. There is need to ensure proper monitoring and supply of quality implements and its maintenance by the implementing agency. 3 In case of technology dissemination through frontline demonstration, the record of visitors needs to be maintained at the site. A board indicating details of activity under taken in field needs to be displayed for firsthand information for visitors / trainees. Targets needs to be enhanced for area expansion of guava in Sawai Madhopur and pomegranate in Barmer district. There is a shortage of manpower for execution of NHM programmes. The new / vacant posts are required to be filled up on priority basis for holistic development of horticulture in the State. Display board with NHM logo may be placed at the farmer’s site wherever financial assistance has been provided under NHM. 4 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS Integration of schemes on farmer’s site, viz. , establishment of water harvesting structures, micro irrigation (Drip & sprinkler), Solar System and setting up of Green House / shade net is a welcome sign for accruing maximum benefits to the farmers thereby improving their economic conditions. JIT observed that the above approach is still to be extended to the Districts Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Barmer visited by JIT. In the Districts visited by JIT, activities of protected cultivation need to be accelerated. Headquarter of SHM, Jaipur and district authorities have to work in mission mode, Head quarter has to keep the district authorities updated regarding project proposals sanctioned / approved in their respective districts. It has been observed that such information viz. details of establishment of Phytosanitory Lab in Jodhpur is not readily available with district authorities. Tissue culture (Datepalm) lab established by Rajasthan Horticulture Development Society in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode is a model lab for producing tissue culture of date palm plants in the State. Another lab is also under construction in Jaisalmer district where more than 96 ha date palm is under fruiting. SHM needs to create awareness among farmers regarding plantation of pomegranate and datepalm for which technical support is needed in district of Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Barmer. It was stated that vermi compost units could not be established in Jaisalmer District because of fluctuating humidity and temperature (very high & very low) in the District, as a result, earth worms do not survive in these conditions inside the pit of vermi compost unit, secondly, the raw material required for unit is not frequently available nearby the sites. JIT feels that this needs to be looked into. At Present in Barmer district, pomegranate is not included in its crop cluster. JIT observed that about an area of 250 ha is under plantation of pomegranate in the District and 80 ha alone in Sindheri block. JIT feels that taking into consideration the available potential for pomegranate plantation in the District Barmer could be considered for its inclusion in its crops cluster. District authorities have already requested for the same for consideration and approval. 5 In Barmer District, a short fall under progress on NHM activities has been observed. During the year 2012-13, only 13% of the total funds were utilized. The reason is that the staff from horticulture has not been deployed to implement horticulture activities in the district. At present, Dy Director (Agri Ext.) is looking after implementation of horticulture activities in the district, who accords second preference to horticulture activities in the District. On the day of visit of JIT, in Barmer District, Deputy Director (Agri. Ext.) and Assistant Director were not available for discussion. JIT feels that authorities responsible for implementing NHM activities in the district should be available at their respective headquarters for detail information / discussion during the visits. At beneficiary’s site. Citrus plant could not be found for which subsidy was given under NHM in Karauli district instead Bajra was grown. Registration plates of tractors were not found intact and absence of NHM logo observed farmers’ sites. More targets for guava under Area Expansion Programme would have been given in Sawai Madhopur district, considering the potential & demand of farmers. For pollination in Zucchini crop, bee needs to be tried as pollination support. Crop like marigold may be tried inside Green house for foraging. It was mentioned that NHM may consider the subsidy under establishment of anti bird net infrastructure for erecting pillars. Borer problem in Ber crop should be addressed properly well in time so that borer free crop is harvested. Floriculture development was not taking place in the State as farmers do not have Technical Knowledge about floriculture / plasticulture, hence no progress under cut and bulbous flowers was achieved. It was mentioned that the progress under protected cultivation was not satisfactory. Joint Director (Hort.) mentioned that area specific programmes are implemented in these districts. Due to high wind velocity and humidity management problem, green house / shade net are not being established in these districts. JIT feels that this may be looked into. 6 It was mentioned that since 2005-06, staff from Horticulture Department has not been posted in Karauli District. The implementation of NHM activities of in the District are taken care of by Agriculture Department. The posting / sanctioning of Staff in the District was discussed. Commissioner (Hort.) mentioned that the targets under NHM will not be achieved in Karauli District during 2013-14, as the Officials of Agriculture Department do not accord preference for implementation of horticulture activities because they do not have the prowess in horticulture. Efforts are being made to post /the necessary staff to look after the implementation of activities of horticulture in the District. Problem relating to supply of inferior pomegranate plants to the beneficiary was discussed as the beneficiary incurred heavy losses due to non-fruiting of marketable produce. Commissioner (Hort.) assured that matter will be interrogated through