District Agricultural Office
Introduction
Contact Details:- Office of the District Agriculture Officer, Sonitpur, Tezpur.
Address:- District Agriculture Officer, Sonitpur, Tezpur
P.O- Tezpur, PIN- 784001, Assam
Phone number:- 03712233969
E-Mail Id:- daotez@gmail.com.
The district is located in the north bank plain agro-climatic zone of the state .In the north, Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh, in south the Brahmaputra river, in east Lakhimpur district and in west with Darrang district surround the district. The district lies in between 26.28-27.08 degree north latitude l and 91.19 to 93.47 degree east longitude. The geographical area of the district is 2.72 lakh hectares. The district comprises of one agricultural sub-division, viz., Tezpur, 7 Blocks, 82 Gaon panchayats and 910 revenue villages.
Objectives
Sonitpur Agriculture district comprises one agriculture subdivision viz. Tezpur. There are seventeen Agriculture development officers’ circles in the district.
The main objective of the department is to uplift the standard of living of the farmers by raising their farm income through adoption of advance agriculture technologies viz. – use of high quality / high yielding variety / hybrid seeds, creation and use of irrigation facilities, use of tools and machineries for mechanization, food processing and post harvest management, marketing of surplus farm produce, off season cultivation of vegetables under plastic green house etc. For technology dissemination, trainings, demonstrations, exposure visit for farmers, trial in field, holding of field day etc. are done so that technologies are percolated to all levels of farmers. To achieve the objectives, provisions are made for financial assistance, distribution of agriculture inputs at subsidized price, arrangement of bank loan etc.
Different Wings of District Agriculture
SOIL TESTING LABORATORIES
There is one Soil Testing laboratory in the district to cater to the needs of neighbouring Darrang and Nagaon district also. Non-availability of Mobile Soil Testing Van has badly been felt by the laboratory to meet the growing demand of soil sample analysis from the remote areas. Of late, one Atomic Absorption Spectro Photometer has been installed in the laboratory to analyze micronutrients (Boron, Zinc, Sulpher, Calcium, Magnesium, Molybdenum etc.) availability in the soil.
AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS OFFICE
There is a statistical wing under the charge of a Statistical Officer at Tezpur. This wing is responsible for monitoring of different programme taken up by the department in the district by conducting crop cutting experiments and maintaining statistical records.
AGMARK LABORATORY
The District AGMARK Laboratory was established in the year 1975 at Tezpur and has played a vital role in the field of grading of food products like grounded spices, mustard oil under the AGMARK brand. The AGMARK laboratory of Tezpur is specially approved for grounded spices like turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and chilli powder. Samples of the grounded spices are collected from local approved packers and analyzed in the laboratory and graded under AGMARK.. Currently this office is only performing the duty of persuading the local traders to go for the AGMARK brand, as the laboratory is not under working condition currently due to various technical difficulties and paucity of fund.
COMMUNITY CANNING & TRAINING CENTRE
Sonitpur district produces a whole variety of fruits, like, litchi, pineapple, lime, guava, banana etc. Due to the importance given to increased horticultural production in the state, it is necessary that the consumption of processed fruits and vegetables is increased so as to avoid post harvest loss and to ensure better nutrition and good health to people. With this aim in view, a Community Canning and Training Centre was established at Tezpur in 1972. This centre, headed by the SDAO (CC&TC) facilities for processing of seasonal fruits and vegetables on a domestic basis along with training programme for induction of the educated unemployed, particularly ladies, in processing of such produce. Facilities for preparation of value-added produce, such as, Squashes, Jams, Jellies, Sauces, and Pickles etc are made available for the public at a very nominal rate.
AGRICULTURAL MARKETING
There is an Agriculture Marketing unit in charge of the Asst. Agril. Marketing Officer is responsible for market survey and also for monitoring of input supply including credit. The marketing unit collects information on market prices; market arrivals etc. of different agricultural commodities on daily and weekly basis and send the information to the state and the central government through NICNET. The Agril. Marketing unit collects Local Market Rates of various Agril. Commodities in different markets of the district daily (including holidays). The information is transmitted to the head office at Guwahati from where the informations are uploaded in the central server. This step has helped the farmers living in distant places of the district to know about the actual price the consumer is paying for their produce, thereby minimizing the chance of being cheated by the middlemen.
AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING WING
In Sonitpur district there is one engineering division located at Tezpur, Hazarapar which constitutes one agri engineering subdivisions viz. Tezpur. Agricultural machineries, implements and equipments under departmental schemes are provided as per schematic provisions by the Engineering wing of the department and also and looks after the various constructional matters of the department.
FIELD TRIAL STATION
Situated at Chariduar at a distance of 35 kms from the district head quarter this FTS was established in 1981-82 with an area of 11 hectares where adoptive research and on farm trials are conducted under the leadership of Deputy Director of Agriculture (FTS).
