Inaugurating the State Government’s “Polam Pilustondi” programme to bring focus back on farming and giving it a thrust here on Friday, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu interacted with farmers.
The farmers, among them young and highly educated, batted for modernisation and change in the farming methods to improve yield and make it more remunerative.
M. Sitaram of Chodavaram who switched from cultivating sugarcane in 25 acres to palm oil after labour-related problems, said the crop came in three years, one year earlier. He had gone to Kuppam and studied drip irrigation there earlier.
While he got a yield of 8 to 9 tonnes, in the neighbouring Madugula it was 14 to 15 tonnes and in Godavari and Krishna districts it went up to 18 tonnes. However, the drop in palm oil rate by Rs.1,000 a tonne was affecting farmers.
Mr. Sitaram said agriculture was turning out to be a difficult task and government should support it by extending subsidy on fertilizer and other means.
Sai Raghunath, from Butchaihpeta, said going on for “ontimacchakatta” seed had given a yield of 40 to 42 tonnes per acre while the cost came down drastically from Rs.41,000 to Rs.33,000.
Mr. Chandrababu Naidu who compared the way both of them spoke said Mr. Sitaram had “masala” in his speech. Such communication skills were needed even by leaders on the dais, he said.
Amarendra, an engineering graduate who did his MBA in London, came back with plans to prove himself back home and took up dairying.
