Revitalization of Rivers in India Draft Policy - Isha Guru Jaggi Vasudev

Revitalization of Rivers In India
Draft Policy Recommendation
recorded fluctuating productivity due to adverse weather conditions and
disease infestation. This may be attributed to lack of linkage between
Government-supported area expansion programs, non-availability
of QPM, low productivity of old and senile plantations and lack of
Government scheme components catering to increasing the productivity
of existing orchards. 43
Fruits and vegetables are mostly grown by marginal and small
farmers with land-holding of less than 2 hectares. This means that
resource-poor farmers are likely to benefit most from growth in the
horticulture sector. This is more so, because the value of the horticulture
output grew more than double compared with all other crops put together
in the four years between 2008-09 and 2012-13. 44 (See Box 2)
AGROFORESTRY AS A SPECIFIC SOLUTION ON RIVERSIDE FARMLANDS
In this section, a generic techno-economic model for tree plantation
in one acre of farmland is provided. The scientific basis of what we are
proposing is also mentioned. We will be looking at the precedents of
large-scale successful implementation of agri-horti-forestry models
for livelihood enhancement. We will also look at the characteristics of
the model proposed, the key assumptions in creating it, and the need to
enhance farmer livelihood. The subsequent section details the following:
••
Suggested package of practices
••
A specific example to typically illustrate possible financial benefits
••
Comparisons with other cropping options
••
Possibility of substantial financial and other benefits of organic
production, and issues related to it.
SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND
Well-documented evidence of a multi-tier system of cropping
in coconut based orchards, available at Indian Council of Agricultural
Research (ICAR)’s Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI),
Kasargod, Kerala, is taken as the base model to work out the current
mango-based cropping system. CPCRI has developed a coconut-based
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