Farmers To Get Seeds, Fertilizers Worth . 1500 Free Gandhinagar:As a sop to farmers hit by water scarcity across the state, the Gujarat government has implemented a new scheme to encourage cultivation of fodder. Under the scheme, the government is providing fodder seeds and fertilizers up to Rs 1,500 free of cost. Officials told TOI that the scheme is being extended to farmers who plan to plant fodder crops on their land covering an area half an acre to two acres. “It will mainly benefit the small and marginal farmers who are the worst hit due to scarcity. Even bigger farmers would benefit from it as they would only go in fodder cultivation on a small portion of their land,” an agriculture department official said. The government plans to spend Rs 80 crore for the implementation of the scheme. “Initially only Rs 5 crore were to be spent under the scheme. But the government has decided to spend additional Rs 75 crore for cultivation of fodder. We are aiming to cover 5 lakh hectares of land under the initiative,” he said. The notification for the scheme says that the fodder crops that the farmers would be encouraged to grow include jowar, bajra, corn along with fodder crops locally known as rajko and oat. The official explained that the fodder crop variety of jowar and bajra do not produce grains and are merely fit for consumption by cattle. In addition to this, the scheme would be extended for fodder crops that are recognized by government of India or agricultural universities. Meeting the fodder requirement in the days to come has emerged as a major challenge for the government. It has decided to encourage farmers to take up fodder cultivation on a large scale in addition to growing fodder on waste lands and gauchar lands. The fodder requirement for severely affected districts will be 838 crore kg over the next nine months till the next monsoon sets in. The moderately affected districts will need 647 crore kg over the next six months. Farmer ends life Rajkot: Falling victim to the prevailing water scarcity , a farmer committed suicide in Nana Machiyala village of Amreli on Thursday morning. The farmer Mohan Gohil (85) jumped into a well. His brother Jayanti Gohil told police that Mohan committed suicide after his crop failed due to scanty rains in the region. TNN