HYDERABAD: The Union Budget 2018 lays no road map for the agricultural sector but Telangana has a better road map, said Minister for Agriculture Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, while speaking at the inaugural conference of Agritech South 2018. Over 3,000 farmers attended the first day of the two-day conference and three-day exhibition at the Professor Jayshankar University of Agriculture in Hyderabad on Friday.
“The true independence to farmer comes when he can farm without taking any loan. Farm mechanization, soil testing and water management and right inputs are key focus areas for success. The state government is working to bring 1 crore acres of barren land under irrigation where sufficient water would be made available for two crops,” he said.
Speaking about increasing farmers’ income, Pocharam said that farmers need to adopt a zero budget farming strategy and that both state government and farmers have to work together to ensure that every farmer gets at least `50,000 income per acre per crop. He insisted that farmers should focus on organic farming and reduce pesticides usage.