Agriculture in Dhemaji district
Area, production and productivity of important agricultural Commodities The area under autumn, winter and summer paddy has increased during the period of 1970-1985 and after that the area has decreased due to flood damage up to the year 2000. The maximum area under autumn paddy (12,850ha) and winter paddy (52,000ha) has been recorded during 1985 while in case of summer paddy it was recorded maximum (7,415ha) in 2005. Like wise, the area under oilseed crops such as Toria and Sesamum has also increased gradually during last 35 years, whereas the area under pulse crops has remained constant during last 20 years (i.e, 1970-1995) and after that it has been increased upto 1,540 ha. Table 1. Information on area of important agricultural commodities in ha
Table 2. Information on production of important agricultural commodities (in tons)
Table: 3. Information on productivity of important agricultural commodities (q/ha)
Existing cropping sequences On an average cropping intensity is 144%, which is slightly lower than the state average of 152%. Paddy, oilseed crops, like sesamum and toria, pulses like blackgram , greengram and pea and vegetables are the important crops of the district. Double cropping and triple cropping are commonly practiced by the farmers. The details of cropping [pattern of the district are presented in the Table 4. . Table 4. : Information on blockwise existing important cropping sequence
Information on existing Agro-processing units There is no agro-based processing unit in the district except 2 small units in Dhemaji block and one unit in Sissiborgaon block. These 3 units are mainly engaged in processing commodities like mango, pinapple, citrus, guava, ber and olive fruits. They are marketing the processed products such as Jam, jelly, pickles, sauce, Squash, fruit juice etc. many rural youths are getting employment in these processing units. Blockwise details of agro processing units are presented in Table 5. Table 5.Information on existing Agro- processing units
Fertilizer consumption Fertilizer consumption in the district is very low (1.84 kg/ha only) which is not comparable with the state average. It is urgently needed to increase the rate of fertilizer consumption for obtaining higher productivity of different crops and popularization of INM practices. However it is likely to be increased in coming years with the increase in irrigated area and adoption of hybrid and improved varieties of paddy and vegetables. (Table 6) Table 6.: Information on fertilizer consumption (in ’000 tones)
Analysis of input supply network Dealers of seed fertilizer and pesticides are operating in all the blocks of the district. They are having their branches in town areas as such; a major section of the farming community is not able to get the advantages of these dealers. There is no systematic mechanism or arrangement for making the input easily and readily available to the farmers. Among all the 5 blocks of the district, there are 21 seed dealers and pesticide dealers and 22 fertilizer dealers. All these dealers handled 10.70 metric tones of seeds, 11.00 metric tones of pesticides and 668.00 metric tones of fertilizers during 2005-06. Moreover, there are 3 horticulture nurseries in the district at Dhemaji, Sissiborgaon and Murkongselek block, and all these 3 nurseries have handled 1,80,000 seedlings during the year. (Table 7). Table 7. Information on input dealers and quantity handled in tones during 2005-06
Development schemes of Agricultural Department Table 8. Information on the schemes of Agricultural Department
Accessibility of farmers to markets The district has great potential , including human and natural resources, for achieving the target of agricultural production and allied sectors. Even then, it has not become possible to fulfill the targets, except in rice production, because of several vital problems, both natural and create ones. These problems are always creating a barrier on the way to economic upliftment of the farming community in particular and of the district as a whole. Amongst these problems, the prime ones are aaccessibility of farmers to markets and credit institutions and timely availability of quality inputs in adequate quantity. The existibg scenario of these aspects in the district is presented under; Table 9. Information on existing marketing infrastructural facilities
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