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R. Balaji

CHENNAI, Feb. 18

THE Tamil Nadu Government has decided to treat corporate and contract farming as a separate component for focus under wasteland development programme. It has asked the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation to co-ordinate private sector involvement in the commercial agriculture projects in wasteland development, according to sources.

Reliable sources told Business Line that the Tamil Nadu Agency for Wasteland Development has written to TIDCO to take up the commercial agriculture component for identifying private sector investments. The Government has also indicated the potential areas of land for private sector participation.

The wasteland development agency has identified nearly 16,500 hectares of wasteland containing blocks of land extending over 20 hectares or more that are ideal for commercial agriculture. These lands are distributed over eight southern districts - Pudukottai, Ramanathapuram, Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari, Virudhunagar, Madurai, Coimbatore and Dharmapuri, sources said.

TIDCO is facilitating a number of agriculture-based investments including in floriculture, horticulture and food processing, and is in the process of promoting agriculture export zones. The Government, in line with TIDCO's expertise in facilitating commercial agriculture ventures, has decided to let the industry development agency co-rdinate private sector participation in wasteland development, sources said.

It may be recalled that the Tamil Nadu Government has launched a programme for wasteland development as a measure to boost the rural economy. It plans to take up four lakh hectares of wasteland for development each year, and bring under production the entire potential in wasteland in the next five years.

Under the programme, it plans to create horticulture farms on 200 to 1,000 acres, facilitate cultivation through bore wells beyond 200-300 feet and setting up a drip irrigation system. Each farm could have captive processing unit and cater to the domestic or export markets. The Government has announced a contract and corporate farming policy and is willing to consider applications for exemption under the land ceiling Act to enable commercial agriculture.

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