Highlighting the need for making use of the available technology to improve the crop yield, Agriculture Minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy on Sunday said the State government was according top priority to the agriculture sector and providing all facilities to the farmers.
Addressing a public meeting after laying foundation stone for the classrooms and hostel buildings of the agriculture college at Katheru on the city’s outskirts, the Minister said improving the produce was the lone solution to make agriculture more profitable.
“The recently held agriculture summit in Visakhapatnam highlighted this aspect and the State government had signed a MoU with the U.S. to make the future farmers more tech-savvy,” he said, calling upon the students of agriculture not to take up jobs but focus more on undertaking research. “There is a vast scope for research in the areas of agriculture and horticulture. The outcome of the research would help the nation in the long run.”
Listing the achievements of the government on the agriculture front, he said the farm loan waiver had helped lakhs of farm families, while the soil tests and input supports helped them improve the yield. “The objective is to improve the extent of horticulture to one crore acres and make better use of the drip and sprinkler irrigation methods. In the last three years, more than 41 lakh acres got converted to horticulture,” he said, adding that the farmers could avail themselves of subsidies on the farm equipment including tractors.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Reddy flagged off mobile vegetable markets being launched by two farmer self-help groups and inaugurated the drinking water facility at Torredu village.
Rajamahendravaram Rural MLA Gorantla Buchaiah Chowdary presided over the meeting. Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council Reddi Subrahmanyam, MLC Adireddi Appa Rao, MLA Akula Satyanarayana, Vice-Chancellor of Acharya NG Ranga Agriculture University V. Damodar Naidu and other officials were present.
