6.3      COMMAND AREA DEVELOPMENT

Based on the farmers survey carried out in the command area, it is recommended to undertake following activities in order to ensure uninterrupted sugarcane supply during the crushing season.  

The availability of bagasse is entirely placed on the quantity of sugarcane present in the (CAIL) area. Although the project is based fin the bagasse which is sourced from sugar unit. It may be foreseen that due to marginal rainfall quantity of bagasse shall be reduced. As a consequence power plant may have acute shortage of fuel, having plan to plant fuel wood or other biomass plantation in the area of the factory can cover this. This can be a stopgap arrangement for the fuel for boilers to produce power for around 300 days in the year.

6.3.1   Development of Seed Nursery

It is recommended to develop seed nursery for fuel wood or other biomass varieties for distribution of the same to the farmers in the command area.

6.3.2   Seed Distribution  

(CAIL) will have to raise quality seed material and meet the demand so that old seed is replaced after every five years. Sufficient speeds of new high yielding varieties should also be multiplied in the seed farm. These varieties should be
systematically distributed to help the farmers to plan their cropping pattern and cultivation of early / mid late / late varieties.                     

6.3.3   Water Management

(CAIL) will have to take due care to water management especially in the heavy soil region. Care Should also be taken for proper drainage system. The region has natural slope and the higher region is free from water logging.

The inputs like pesticide, insecticide, fungicide, micro - nutrient fertilizers, seeds -of green manure, organic compost are easily available. There is no difficulty in procuring crop loans and M T Loans from PACs.

For implementing the above mentioned programmes in the command area,   training programmes, Kisan-mela etc. could be conducted in various parts of the operational area, thus, the gap between potential yield actual/yield could be. reduced.

It is to be noted that due to the developmental activities already introduced by (CAIL), sugarcane cultivation has improved. Many new cane varieties have been