A cross-section of agricultural officers has urged Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay to roll back Uzhavar Aluvalar Thodarbu Thittam - 2.0 (farmer - officer connect scheme) (UATT 2.0), a scheme that aims to unify all the wings of the Agriculture Department at the field level.

The officers say this scheme would be detrimental to the interests of farmers as agricultural officers who focus on staple crops cannot give advice on horticulture crops like flowers, vegetables, fruits, spices, medicinal plants, aromatics, and tea or coffee.

P. Sivakumar, president , Tamil Nadu Horticulture Officers Welfare Association said though both horticulture and agriculture officers study at the same colleges, of the 86 subjects they study only six are common for both streams. “It is like asking physicians to treat animals instead of veterinarians, saying they are both doctors. If one pesticide works on a pest that occurs in paddy, using the same pesticide on roses for the same pest, may lead to burning up the entire rose garden,” he explained.

S. Sivakumar, secretary, Tamil Nadu Horticulture Officers Welfare Association, said during a restructuring exercise of the department in 2007, several posts were handed over to the Horticulture wing. At present, the aim of the UATT - 2.0 is to get back those posts to the agricultural wing. It is better to create more posts if there is a need, he added.

G. Murugan, president, Tamil Nadu Assistant Horticulture Officers Association, said if Mr. Vijay wanted to lead the State to become a 1.5 trillion economy and horticulture will contribute to a large portion of that. Coconut crop alone will make up 10% of that. Horticulture will help boost the State's economy since it has more scope for value addition, he explained.

Meanwhile, K. V. Elankeeran, president, Federation of Cauvery Delta Farmers Associations has opposed any move to roll back the scheme.