The impressive array of farm equipment on display turned out to be the major attraction at the ‘Kisan Mela’ organised by Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU) at its Sri Venkateswara Agricultural College here on Friday.
Even as the absence of Minister for Agriculture Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy was a dampener, the delayed start to the event had progressive farmers, agricultural scientists and departmental officials making a beeline for it till noon.
ANGRAU Vice-Chancellor V. Damodar Naidu, Joint Director of Agriculture N. Vijaya Kumar, ANGRAU Directors K. Raja Reddy (Extension) and N.V. Naidu (Research) and RARS Associate Director of Research T.C.M. Naidu, spoke on the need for taking farm research to the field and listed out the action plan of the State government to address agrarian woes.
High demand
Paddy transplanters that were demonstrated caught the attention of the farmers. Although the demand is quite high for these among the farmers of Chittoor, the subsidy-based products could not be sold due to delay in release of funds.
The products are in great demand in the eastern taluks like Tirupati, Srikalahasti, Puttur and Satyavedu, which witness paddy cultivation due to higher rainfall. “Our products have takers even in Vayalpadu, a traditional tomato belt that has of late adopted paddy as the second major crop,” says K. Ramana Reddy, dealer of a farm equipment company.
The stalls selling tractors, pesticides, fertilisers, drip equipment, organic products also recieved high footfalls.
