Crop cultivation should be driven by market demand: Niranjan Reddy

Hyderabad: Farmers should be encouraged to grow agricultural products like millets keeping in view contemporary conditions and food habits of the world, Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy said. He stated that Telangana was recording a huge increase in crop production in the last eight years and that cultivation was taken up in about 1.45 crore […]

Hyderabad: Farmers should be encouraged to grow agricultural products like millets keeping in view contemporary conditions and food habits of the world, Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy said.

He stated that Telangana was recording a huge increase in crop production in the last eight years and that cultivation was taken up in about 1.45 crore acres for this Vaanakalam (Kharif) season alone.

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Addressing a national seminar on millets organised by Indian Institute of Millet Research (IIMR) at HICC on Friday, the Agriculture Minister said the food habits of people were changing across the world and farmers should cultivate crops according to the market demand. He said Telangana was popular for millet production, which however, had declined in recent times. Considering market demand, he emphasised the need to promote millet cultivation again.

“There is a huge market for millet-based food especially processed ready-to-eat products. Scientists and agricultural research organisations must work towards increasing the yield which will encourage farmers to take up millet cultivation,” he said.

He demanded the Centre to announce a Minimum Support Price for millets and also to supply them to ration card holders through fair price shops.

On the occasion, the organisers announced awards for organisations, scientists and officials who were promoting millet cultivation. Kumram Bheem Asifabad additional collector Chahat Bhajpai received an award for the Telangana government in this regard.

National Rainfed Area Authority Chief Executive Officer Ashok Dalvai, union Joint Secretary Shobha Thakur, ICAR additional director general RK Singh, IIMR director Ratnavathi, IIMR Nutri-Hub CEO Dayakar Rao and other officials attended the event.