Hyderabad, May 9 (RAHNUMA): Telangana Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Commission Chairman M. Kodanda Reddy, along with his team, on Saturday submitted a report to Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao about the importance of diversifying crops in Telangana.
Recognising that farmers in the state predominantly depend on paddy and cotton, the Agriculture Commission has developed a detailed report that specifies the actions the state government should take to promote the cultivation of horticultural crops, pulses, millets, and oilseeds.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao noted that the paddy was currently cultivated across approximately 1.30 crore acres in Telangana, spanning both the Kharif and Rabi seasons.
He directed the officials from the Agriculture and Horticulture departments to formulate an action plan to divert at least 13 lakh acres of this land towards the cultivation of the horticultural crops, pulses, millets and oilseeds over the next three years.
The Minister further suggested that, in the context of the crop diversification, planning should be executed with a focus on crops that are in high demand in the market.
Similarly, he stated that new oil palm cultivation is introduced across 45,000 acres this year and a plan must be formulated and successfully executed to expand the oil palm cultivation to 100,000 acres in the coming year.
The Minister expressed the opinion that amendments were also necessary to the Seeds Act formulated by the Central Government.
He pointed out that the current act lacks clarity regarding the compensation to be paid to the farmers in instances where they suffer losses due to the use of spurious seeds. The Minister demanded that, alongside the Centre, State governments also be vested with appropriate powers regarding the seed regulation.
