Sikkim

The state constitutes hilly terrain with closely spaced elevated hill ranges and narrow valleys. The agroclimate is per-humid with warm and moist summers and cold winters. The cultivated area is around 20%. The brown and red hill soils are fine loam, acidic and low to medium in fertility. The important crops are maize, large cardamom and off-season vegetables. Steeply sloping landforms are conducive to severe soil erosion and water loss. Suggested interventions for natural resource management for agriculture in the state are :

    � Watershed management including water harvesting

    � Drip irrigation to promote off-season vegetable cultivation

    � Liming and fertilizer use on acid soils

    � Vermicomposting to promote organic farming of fruits and large cardamom

Maize

Maize is grown in 38,000 ha with a production of 56,500 tonnes. Maize is used as food and as green cob. The major constraints are absence of following improved variety seeds, poor plant population, low yielding landraces and poor plant population productivity. The major interventions are:

� Cultivation of composites Shakti 1(QPM) and Navjot; hybrids HQPM 1,

  Vivek 9, Vivek 21, Prakash

Mandarin

The productivity of 1.5 tonnes/ha is low as against the national average of 9.9 tonnes/ha. However, mandarin fruit of Sikkim is of high quality. There exists an opportunity for improving fruit productivity with the adoption of following improved technologies:

� Use virus-free planting material on Rangpur lime rootstock

� Management of vectors to reduce the spread of diseases

� Foliar application of magnesium, zinc and manganese

� Integrated management of pest and diseases

� Application of 100 g Trichoderma harzianum along with 2.0 kg neem cake per plant for

  Phythphthora management.

Off-season vegetables

A wide range of agroclimatic conditions in Sikkim provide ample scope to cultivate various vegetable crops. The area under vegetables is about 17,000 ha with production of 76,500 tonnes. The average productivity is 4.5 tonnes/ha, which is low and can be doubled with scientific interventions:

Cauliflower

    � Use of hybrids Serrano, Pusa 2, DCH 541, Summer King and Swati and open pollinated