HYDERABAD: Stating that Telangana had became granary of the nation, IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao said food security was not a concern any longer. Instead, the need of the hour was nutritional security. Addressing a meeting after inaugurating the agri hub at the Agriculture University here on Monday, Rama Rao explained how some Covid-19 patients were displaying signs of malnutrition. “Now, we need nutritional security,” he said.
Enumerating the achievements of the TRS government in the last seven years in agriculture and irrigation, Rama Rao stressed the need for 3 Ps -- production, productivity and profitability. “Farmers should get profits,” he asserted. Rama Rao recalled the BJP government’s slogan in 2014 that it would double the income of the farmers by 2022. “There may be some progress in doubling the income of farmers. But, the Narendra Modi government’s slogan has not materialised completely,” Rama Rao pointed out. In order to improve the profit position of farmers, the State government had decided to take up oil palm cultivation across 20 lakh acres.
Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy said Telangana was the only State in the country which was spending `60,000 crore on agriculture and allied sectors every year. He called upon the farmers to raise only fine variety of paddy in Kharif, as the Food Corporation of India had declared that it would not procure the coarse variety. The Minister asked farmers to cultivate oil seeds, groundnut, mustard, safflower and sunflower.
MINISTER SAYS FARMERS NEED 3 PS
Enumerating the achievements of the TRS government in the last seven years in agriculture and irrigation, Rama Rao stressed the need for 3 Ps -- production, productivity and profitability