Agri. Department pre-occupied with Digital Crop Survey, may dispense with parthenium awareness programmes this year

The Agriculture Department is likely to dispense with the parthenium awareness programme this year due to pre-occupation with Digital Crop Survey for the 2025 Kharif season.

Parthenium Awareness Week is observed from August 16 to 22 every year. In Coimbatore district, the department is understood to have deployed its entire manpower for the digital survey, to gather data of 5.38 lakh sub-divisions in 98,000 survey numbers.

Parthenium awareness programme is not likely to be conducted this year, according to officials.

After the initial teething difficulties in carrying out the Digital Crop Survey, a little over 10,000 survey data have been gathered in a week’s time. Now that the momentum has been generated, the activity will gather pace. On Tuesday alone, data of over 3,200 fields under cultivation was generated, a senior official said.

The department is required to complete the process by this month-end, but, the officials at the field-level are hopeful that an extension will be given till September 15.

The database provides accurate, real-time crop area information for every agricultural plot, which will help to arrive at accurate production estimation, according to the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare that has developed the Agri Stack in accordance with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and other IT laws of the country.

Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) is observing the Parthenium Awareness Week, as usual.

Under the auspices of All India Coordinated Research Programme on Weed Management sponsored by ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research), the TNAU is reaching out to various stakeholders including farmers, school and college students, farm labourers and sanitary workers, with the awareness programme on parthenium weed management, N. Senthil, Director (Crop management) in-charge, said.

Professor and Head of the Department of Agronomy R.Krishnan said Mexican beetles were released into the field under cultivation in the TNAU campus for the biological control of parthenium.

The campaign envisages orienting students on the ill-effects of parthenium weed and control measures such as cultural, chemical and biological means. Composting technology of parthenium was also demonstrated, Prof. Krishnan said.