Concerned at the increase in prices of essential commodities and vegetables, the State government on Friday decided to unveil long-term measures for increasing the production of vegetables, oilseeds and rice.
A meeting chaired Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi decided to identify villages in the vicinity of towns and Uzhavar Sandhais for cultivation of vegetables.
Farmers to be trained
By supplying quality seeds and training farmers in modern agriculture methods, the government plans to increase the area of vegetable cultivation and production.
Drip irrigation schemes will be launched so that more areas are brought under irrigation.
Modernisation of sales centres for agriculture products has also been planned. They will be air-conditioned and their basic infrastructure strengthened, the release stated.
Production capacity to be studied
The government will study the production capacity of crops such as paddy in every region and devise schemes to ensure maximum production capacity.
The meeting was attended by Finance Minister K. Anbazhagan, Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, Food Minister E.V. Velu, Chief Secretary S. Malathi, Finance Secretary K. Shanmugam and Food Secretary Swaran Singh.
The government said that the price of rice, thoor dhal and black gram was lower now than last year, but groundnut oil, coconut oil and palmolein had become slightly costlier.
As the price of cooking oil had come down in the international market, it would have a desirable effect on the domestic price.
Barring potato, prices of other vegetables has increased because of the damage caused by rain. They would also come down in a few weeks after the arrival of vegetables.
