Tummala Stresses on Need to Fund Agriculture

Hyderabad: Agriculture and cooperation minister Tummala Nageswara Rao asked bankers to give importance to agriculture and agriculture-related activities. He asked them to not repeat the mistakes made by the previous BRS government.

Addressing a state-level bankers committee meeting, Nageswara Rao said, “Bankers should give importance to schemes of the government and help in taking them forward. The government is trying to meet the economic needs of the people by correcting the disturbance in systems. The rural areas should not be forgotten as happened in the previous regime.”

He asked the bankers to act tough on default by big traders as is being done in case of farmers whose land is seized in case of failure to repay the loan. He further exhorted them to encourage the dairy industry to meet the shortfall in demand for milk.

“Farmers are the wealth of the nation and agriculture plays a pivotal role. Negligence will create shortage of food in the country,” the minister said. The government was spreading palm oil cultivation to all districts and farmers would require support for this, Nageswara said.