Sircilla: “Farmers can benefit more by cultivating alternative crops and this would require only less effort in the fields. It is the responsibility of agriculture officials to create awareness among the farmers about cultivation of alternative crops that would also help the state attain self-sufficiency,” IT minister K.T. Rama Rao said on Monday.
The minister chaired a review meeting with the officials agriculture department and discussed with them on crop change methods to be implemented in the coming 2021-22 Rabi season. The meeting was held at the Collectorate complex in Rajanna Sircilla district.
The minister said that being “a son of a farmer” and a farmer himself, Chief Minister Chandrasekhar Rao was having complete awareness of the problems the farming community faced. Hence, KCR introduced the Rythu Bandhu crop investment scheme to help the farmers and the Rythu Bhima to help the family members of the farmers.
Telangana is the only state that is implementing the schemes like the Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bhima for the welfare of the farming community. “There is a BJP government in Karnataka state but it is not purchasing food grains, unlike what the Telangana government does. Telangana is the only government supplying free electricity to farmers,” he said.
“In the past, Rajanna Sircilla district used to suffer because of non-availability of water. Today, the lakes, tanks and reservoirs in the district are overflowing with the full water levels,” he said.
He said the rural economy in Telangana state has increased enormously in recent times. “During the separate Telangana movement, the rulers of the time made fun of TRS leaders and questioned them whether they knew how to cultivate crops. Today, Telangana state has become the seed bowl of the country. In Sircilla district alone, around one lakh tonnes of food grains are produced every year,” he said.
If farmers do not start cultivating alternative crops like oil seeds and pulses along with others, it would become difficult to procure the food grains from them, he said.
There is a lot of scope for the cultivation of oil palm in the district. The officials of the agriculture department must take necessary steps for this, covering more than hundred acres of land in every village. “By purchasing around 10 to 15 acres of land in Mohini Kunta, I am going to cultivate oil palm,” he said.
ZP chairperson Aruna, NAFSCOB chairman Ravinder Rao, district collector Anurag Jayanti, municipal chairperson Kala, farmer coordination committee Narasaiah, district agriculture officer Ranadheer Reddy and incharge DRO Srinivas Rao were among those present.
