Former Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami welcomed the demands of farmers including a plea to increase the percentage of ethanol in petrol, while inaugurating a farmer’s conference, Vazhvurimai Maanadu, in Salem on Friday.
The conference was inaugurated on behalf of the Federation of Tamil Nadu Agriculturalists Association. It would be held for three days, and an exhibition, ‘employment mela’, and seminars would be conducted as part of the conference.
Addressing the conference, Mr. Palaniswami said the Union government promoted the production of ethanol, due to which sugar cane cultivation would be increased.
Subsidies are provided by the Centre for ethanol production. Banks are providing 95.5% loans at an interest of 3.5%. “This conference makes a number of demands, including the need to give importance to swadeshi products, and as a farmer, I welcome these demands,” said Mr. Palaniswami, listing the achievements of his government for farmers’ welfare.
Mr. Palaniswami said his government gave importance to water management, introduced the Kudimaramathu scheme and brought 100 lake schemes for Salem through which surplus water from the Mettur Dam could be diverted to lakes. But the DMK government was allegedly carrying out this project work at a slow pace, he said, adding that the DMK failed to protect the paddy procured from farmers and it was destroyed by rain. Mr. Palaniswami alleged that there was a scarcity of manure and paddy seeds.
