Rice, maize parks in Karnataka's granary

Ballari: The state government has identified 315 acres of land at Karatagi in Gangavathi of Koppal district to set up a Rice Technology Park, the first of its kind in Asia, and 60 acre for a Maize Technology Park at Ranebennur in Haveri district as a one-stop solution to all problems of rice and maize growers.

Sources from the the Karnataka State Agriculture Marketing Board said the government plans to develop the two parks under a public-private partnership model. While the project cost for the Rice Technology Park is Rs 128 crore, that of the Maize Technology Park is Rs 111 crore.

Sources said the establishment of the rice park will make Gangavati a major agri-business centre and will help paddy cultivators in the Tungabhadra Command Area in Ballari, Raichur and Koppal districts and also in the command areas of the Upper Krishna Project in Shahpur and Surpur taluks in Yadgir district and Vijayapura and Bagalkot districts.

In the Tungabhadra Project region, the area under irrigation is 9 lakh acres and 95 per cent of it is under paddy cultivation. The farmers in the command area grow two crops of paddy in a year.

The area under paddy is likely to increase with additional allotment of water from the Krishna by the Krishna River Water Disputes Tribunal. The area under irrigation in the Krishna Basin is likely to go up by another 4.61 lakh hectares.

The park will be the focal point of agro-based activity in the 'rice-bowl' catering to most parts of the Tungabhadra Command Area. Sona Masuri, which is a light and aromatic variety of rice, is grown pre-dominantly in this area. This rice is exported to the US, UK, Middle-East, South East Asia and Australia.