HYDERABAD: The ‘crop colonies’ concept of the agriculture department has yielded the desired results as the production of vegetables in Ibrahimpatnam area increased from 44,000 tonnes to 83,000 tonnes. With the shortage of vegetables in the state after the bifurcation of the erstwhile combined AP, the Telangana agriculture department focused on improving the vegetable production.
For this, the government decided to start ‘crop colonies’ to encourage farmers to grow vegetables in and around Hyderabad. “A pilot ‘crop colony’ started in Ibrahimpatnam area gave us good results. The vegetable production there increased from 44,000 tonnes to 83,000 tonnes,” agriculture minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy said during in an interaction with farmers here on Monday.
Elated by the success of the Ibrahimpatnam crop colony, the minister announced that vegetable crop colonies would be started in Chevella, Maheshwaram and Shadnagar areas soon. All the district headquarters and towns should have crop colonies within a radius of 20 km to 30 km to cater to the needs of the local people, he said. The state government had plans to start local vegetable markets wherever crop colonies are developed.