The Telangana government has requested National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to work out a programme for scaling up farmer producer organisations (FPOs) in the State and also suggest policy support initiatives to ensure improved income to farmers.
The request was made by Minister for Agriculture and Marketing S. Niranjan Reddy during the 38th Foundation Day celebrations of NABARD here on Friday after Chief General Manager of the bank for Telangana region Vijay Kumar made a plea for formulating a policy on promotion and development of FPOs. “Although the number of FPOs in the State is very small at present, around 280, they will definitely help triple the farmers income in Telangana,” he hoped.
Quality seed
Stating that Telangana was second most suitable place for production of quality seed in the world after Arizona in the US, the Minister said there was huge potential for export of seed from the State particularly after hosting the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) Congress recently. He suggested that intervention of agriculture sector by NABARD was till the incomes in rural areas were increased. Former chairman of NABARD Pragada Kotaiah said agriculture sector was under severe stress in the country and the crisis could be overcome only when the young generations were attracted towards the profession.
Regional Director of Reserve Bank of India Subrata Das said the pyramid structure of rural financing had to be fortified and strengthened and engaging the youth in agriculture was also necessary to tackle the problem of increasing unemployment and decline in the economic growth.
Managing Director of Andhra Bank J. Packirisamy said the expertise of NABARD in agriculture financing was exemplary and every bank would simply follow it.
Convenor of State Level Bankers’ Committee of Telangana (SBI) U.N. Maiya also spoke. Chief General Managers of NABARD regional offices Vijay Kumar (Telangana) and S. Selvaraj (Andhra Pradesh) explained about various interventions by NABARD in the two Telugu States.
