HYDERABAD: The Agriculture department has decided to replace the existing turmeric seed with the Salem variety in order to double the income of farmers in Telangana.
Salem turmeric gets a higher price in the market. Recently, the State government sent a group of farmers to Salem in Tamil Nadu to study the turmeric variety and its cultivation techniques. Now, a turmeric farmer in the state gets around 20 quintals of yield per acre and Rs 2 lakh for the produce. Turmeric is cultivated in 1.5 lakh acres in the state and the total revenue to turmeric farmers is Rs 3,000 crore per year.
"If we implement new cropping techniques like in Tamil Nadu and introduce the Salem turmeric seed, the yield will increase. The Salem variety will yield 40 quintals per acre. Thus a farmer will get Rs 4 lakh for his produce. The total revenue from turmeric will increase to Rs 6,000 crore," Agriculture Minister Pocharam Srinivasa Reddy said.
Speaking to reporters at the Secretariat on Friday, the Minister said in Telangana, farmers sow 10 quintals of turmeric seed per acre. But, they can sow just two quintals if they replace it with the Salem variety. Thus, each farmer can save around Rs 30,000 on seed alone, he said. The government would give 50 per cent subsidy to farmers on Salem variety seed, he said.
Reddy said the State government would set up a Spice Park at Nizamabad at an estimated cost of Rs 31 crore keeping the welfare of turmeric farmers in mind. The Spice Park would eliminate middlemen in the market and ensure farmers get remunerative price for their produce, he added.
‘Do Not Cultivate Cotton': Meanwhile, the Minister appealed to farmers to not cultivate cotton and instead migrate to other crops like soybean, maize and red gram. "Of the total cultivable area in the state, cotton occupies 42 per cent area. It should be reduced from the present 42 lakh acres to 15 to 20 lakh acres as there is every danger of exports being stopped and a cut in price due to the WTO's Nairobi agreement," the Minister said.
He said a large quantity of soybean, maize and red gram seeds would be made available to farmers for the next Kharif season too.