AP aims to provide high income through low investment in organic farming

VIJAYAWADA: Agriculture minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy has said the ultimate goal of the state government is to help farmers have high incomes through organic farming with low investment. He said organic crops have high demand in the global market.

A workshop with farmers and exporters was held in Vijayawada on Tuesday to enhance the export opportunities for agricultural, horticultural and processed food products. Minister Govardhan Reddy inaugurated the workshop.

He said AP is an agricultural-based state and there was a high level of outflow of agricultural products from the state to other states as also to markets abroad. The need is to increase this flow of agricultural products from the state, he said.

He urged exporters to give a better price for agricultural products to farmers, which should be more than the remunerative prices. Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is constantly striving to provide more benefits to the farmers, he said.

The government stands by the farmers at every stage, from the sowing of seed to the sale of farm produce, by the establishment of the Jaganna Yantraseva Scheme at RBKs.

AP is the only state that directly deposits money into the accounts of the beneficiary farmers through the DBT system without any role for middlemen, he said.

Govardhan Reddy said, “We are exporting agricultural, horticultural and allied products from our state to 100 countries. We have decided to double the exports by next year. FPOs will be available to the farmers all the time.”

Special chief secretary to Agriculture Gopalakrishna Dwivedi, special commissioner Hari Kiran, AP seeds MD Shekar Babu, farmers, exporters  and others were present.