Minister for Agriculture Pocharam Srinivas Reddy has stated that the government is ready with required quantity of seed and fertilisers for the coming kharif season and the investment support given under Rythu Bandhu scheme should be helpful to the farming community to procure inputs without any problem.
Speaking at the seed mela organised by Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) in collaboration with local ICAR research institutions and some State government agencies here on Thursday, the Minister stated that 7.5 lakh quintals of seed of various crops and 8 lakh tonnes of fertilisers had been kept ready for the kharif cultivation.
Indian Institute of Rice Research (IIRR), Indian Institute of Oilseeds Research (IIOR), Indian Institute of Millet Research (IIMR), Directorate of Poultry, National Seed Corporation (NSC), Telangana State Seed Development Corporation (TSSDC), Telangana State Seed and Organic Certification Agency (TSSOCA) also participated in the seed mela.
The Minister stated that the government was also helping farmers to raise seed by offering 50% subsidy on breeder seed and the State had come a long way from queues and incidents of stampede for seed and fertiliser. The government had also decided to provide insurance cover to farmers and the guidelines were expected to be finalised in a meeting of insurance companies with Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday.
Vice Chancellor of PJTSAU V. Praveen Rao said the quality seed would help realise higher yield by 15% to 20%. He explained that 24 crop varieties seed was on the exhibition and sale at the mela which was also held simultaneously at three Regional Agricultural Research Stations (RARS) at Warangal, Jagtial and Palem (in Nagarkurnool district).
Chairman TSSDC Kondabala Koteshwar Rao, Director of IIOR Vishnuvardhan Reddy, Director of TSSOCA K. Keshavulu, farmers and scientists attended.
