Agriculture

In Dharmapuri district average Normal rainfall is 853.10 mm. Total number of farmers in the district is 2,10,300 out of which 1,90,000 farmers are small and marginal farmers. Agriculture continues to be the most predominant sector of the District economy, as 70 percent of the population is engaged in Agriculture and allied activities for their livelihood. The District has as an area of 449777 Ha with net cultivated area of around 195740Ha. The Major crops raised in this district are millets and pulses in rain fed conditions.The Government policy and objectives have been to ensure stability in agricultural production and to increase the agricultural production in a sustainable manner to meet the food requirement of growing population and also to meet the raw material needs of agro based industries, thereby providing employment opportunities to the rural population.

Dharmapuri District has all along been one of the Districts in the state with a creditable performance in agricultural production with the farmers relatively more responsive and receptive to changing technologies and market forces.

The Agriculture Department has taken up the challenge to achieve higher growth rate in agriculture by implementing several development schemes and also propagation of relevant technologies to step up the production. National Mission On Sustainable Agriculture- NMSA, Mission on Sustainable Dry land Agriculture- MSDA, Collective farming, Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative – SSI, PMKSY- Micro Irrigation , PMFBY- Insurance , Tamil nadu watershed development agency-TAWDEVA, Soil health improvement through Bio-Fertilizer, Green Manuring, Organic farming, adoption of Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) technologies are given priority through various programmes, besides crop diversification to fetch better return and value addition to agricultural produce are given priority to improve the economic status of the farming community of the district