VIJAYAWADA: Agriculture Director S Dilli Rao emphasised the Chief Minister’s directive to achieve a gross agricultural income of Rs 65,000 crore.
Holding a video conference with officials on Thursday, he urged the formulation of an action plan, highlighting that cultivating summer crops from March to June using pumpsets and borewells on otherwise fallow farmlands could enhance income and add value.
Amid changing weather patterns with light to moderate rainfall, they recommended growing crops like green gram, sesame, cowpea, black gram, and groundnut in areas with borewells and pumpsets.
The State has set a target of 90,000 hectares for summer crop cultivation, mandating registration in the e-crop system. Rao noted that summer cropping under borewells has been practised in some regions for years, and instructed immediate identification and registration of such areas.
Details of crops like horse gram in Eluru and NTR district mango orchards, sesame for Kharif in North Coastal areas, and groundnut in Nellore and Rayalaseema must be promptly recorded. Rao directed officials to expand cultivation under borewells and conduct district-level workshops to raise awareness among staff about boosting gross income through summer crops.