Strong political will needed for orange crop revival: Farmers

Nagpur: Orange — Vidarbha’s signature crop — needs a much-needed impetus and strong political will by both the state and central government to survive. The orange crop of region cannot be left to perish either due to the vagaries of the nature or excessive human interference with nature, say farmers.
Amol Totey, working president of the Orange Growers Association of India and an orange farmer from Warud tehsil, says that it may take more than a decade to restore the damage caused to orange orchards this year. Hence, it requires a humongous effort in a phased manner to get back orange cultivation rolling again.
This would be impossible without a combined initiative of both state and central governments. “The initiative must start in the next 3-4 months as the same party rules in state and the Centre. Our association has already met the central government for reviving orange cultivation on a mass scale in the region again,” he said.
Totey said neither he nor the association know the right way of reviving this dying crop. He cited the example of Sharad Pawar, who as Union agriculture minister in the 1991, dared to announce Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) for reviving the sweet lime orchards in Marathwada within a few days of visiting the dead orchards there.
“The scheme then brought in all horticultural crops in Maharashtra under the scheme and it led to a horticulture revolution in state and set an example for the country. Similar schemes are needed now again,” said Totey, who submitted a 300-page report to Union agriculture secretary on June 17.
The requirement is massive, said Totey. If the government aims at bringing at least 4 lakh hectare land under orange cultivation, it can revive only about 1.5 lakh hectare under new cultivation area. “Only extremely aggressive replantation in Vidarbha can save the orange survive in the region. And this is possible only through national initiatives,” said Totey.
It will also require the agencies like National Horticulture Board, Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) and MNREGA etc to work in tandem with state schemes including state EGS.
Sharad Nimbalkar, former vice chancellor of Panjabrao Deshmukh Krsihi Vidyapeeth, too suggested similar initiatives to revive the orange crop. “The support has to be sumptuous, labour-oriented and must be done on war footing. While all this is needed to support farmers the government should also ensure that farmers realize their responsibility and not waste water. Government must subsidize drip irrigation to at least 90% but it should also make it mandatory for every farmer to adopt the same and not go for flood or any other type of irrigation which will further deplete the groundwater table,” he said.