Minister for Agriculture S. Nirajan Reddy requested scientists of International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) to suggest a plan on scaling up groundnut cultivation, quality and production in State.
In a meeting held here on Friday, he said a groundnut research centre would be established soon at Wanaparthy with the cooperation of ICRISAT and PJTSAU with an estimated cost of ₹9 crore. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao would lay the foundation stone for the research centre.
Secretary (Agriculture) M. Raghunandan Rao, Vice-Chancellor of PJTSAU V. Praveen Rao, Managing Director of State Seed Development Corporation K. Keshavulu, Director (Research) of PJTSAU R. Jagadeeshwar, ICRISAT scientists P. Janila, A. Ashok Kumar, S. Hari kishan and others attended the meeting.
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According to officials, normal area of groundnut cultivation in the kharif season is about 44,000 acres but it is sown only in about 15,000 acres so far this season. For rabi season, the normal area is about 3.06 lakh acres, but it was cultivated in 2.78 lakh acres during the last rabi season.