AP: Farmers Must Get Sufficient Seeds, CM Naidu Tells Officials
Vijayawada: Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has directed officials of the Agriculture Department to ensure that there is no shortage of seeds anywhere in the state.
On Thursday, he asked officials of the finance department to release Rs.36 crore under input subsidy. With this, farmers whose crops were damaged due to the heavy rains in July could re-plant their crops, he said.
The chief minister advised the officials to ensure 100 per cent e-crop registrations in the state and said, ”It is necessary to make changes in agriculture in ways that the investment cost is reduced. The net income of farmers can be increased through appropriate planning.
On Thursday, Naidu reviewed the agriculture allied sectors at the state secretariat. Special principal secretary to agriculture department, Rajasekhar, explained the programmes and schemes through a power point presentation.
Agriculture Minister K Atchannaidu and officials of agriculture, horticulture and allied departments participated in the review meeting.
Naidu said that besides increasing the production, technology should be used to increase the net income of farmers. “By adopting the best practices in cultivation, we should create a comprehensive policy that helps increase production and productivity and raise the net income of farmers.”
He asked the officials, “Increase the use of drones for spraying pesticides in fields. I will talk to the civil aviation department and work to establish a drone-testing center in the state. Satellite services should be used to detect soil moisture. As per our poll promise, the guidelines regarding Annadata scheme will be released soon.”
Naidu asked the officials to prepare action plans to make AP the leader in horticultural crops. “We are in the first four positions in the country in cultivation of banana, mango, lemon, oil farm, coconut, coffee and tomato.”
In a review of horticulture, the CM said production and productivity of horticulture crops should be increased significantly and the income of the farmers should also increase. The rules of horticulture crops implemented during 2014-19 should be fully followed. He spoke of steps to achieve 15 per cent GSDP.
The officials explained that the target is to bring one lakh acres under micro-irrigation in 2024-25.
The CM said comprehensive policies should be adopted to achieve better production in oil palm, coconut and cocoa.
We propose to set up a manufacturing park for micro irrigation equipment in the state. Adequate efforts should be made to make this feasible. A report should be prepared to introduce the best policy regarding food processing, he said.
A review was held on the cooperative department. Commissioner A Babu, said there were 13 DCCBs in the state. He brought to the attention of the CM that one DCCB should be established for each district. Currently, 24 petrol outlets are being operated by primary cooperative societies while another 64 NOCs have come from oil companies.
