Farmers should concentrate on raising more food crops than cash crops and adopt the latest technology in the cultivation of agricultural crops, while giving up the conventional methods to get more yield, said Collector A. Suganthi here on Tuesday.
Inaugurating the special campaign for the rabi crop season organised by the Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA), the Collector appealed to the farmers to take special efforts to increase food production and also to protect the existing cultivation lands.
Mrs. Suganthi pointed out that the farmers could get good income if they switched over to latest technology and farm mechanisation in cultivating the agricultural crops. She said that the agriculture crop cultivation area had been shrinking due to construction of houses and other buildings, and this would lead to food shortage in the future.
The Collector said that several issues on agriculture would be discussed during the three-day campaign and the Agriculture, Horticulture and other departments had also put up stalls exhibiting the latest farm equipments and also displaying the best way of carrying out cultivation various crops.
Mrs Suganthi advised the farmers to take up paddy cultivation under the latest system or rice intensification (SRI) method to get more yield than in the traditional method. She also distributed welfare assistance worth Rs.5.25 lakh to farmers under various schemes.
P.Kerishnasamy, Project Director of ATMA, explained in detail the objectives and salient features of the special campaign for the current rabi crop season.
