Don’t see farming as business: Harish Rao tells Centre

Siddipet: Finance and Health Minister T Harish Rao on Thursday urged the Union government not to see the Agriculture Sector as a business since it feeds the entire nation besides providing direct and indirect employment to a majority of the people. Addressing students of Konda Lakshman Bapuji Horticulture University on the occasion of its 7th […]

Siddipet: Finance and Health Minister T Harish Rao on Thursday urged the Union government not to see the Agriculture Sector as a business since it feeds the entire nation besides providing direct and indirect employment to a majority of the people.

Addressing students of Konda Lakshman Bapuji Horticulture University on the occasion of its 7th foundation day in Mulugu, Harish Rao said Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has been allocating a major share of the budget to the agriculture sector to make farming profitable. “Governments used to set up gruel centres in drought-hit areas in Telangana till 10 years ago,” he said, adding that farmers in the State were prosperous now because the government had introduced schemes such as Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bima besides completing several irrigation projects including Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS).

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Pointing out that the State government spends 13.5 per cent of its budget on the agriculture sector, the Minister said it had spent Rs 50,000 crore on Rythu Bandhu, 44,500 crore on 24X7 free power supply, 1.5 lakh crore on irrigation projects in the last seven years, to make farming diverse and profitable. The government is encouraging farmers to cultivate paddy in 20 lakh acres across the State with a Rs 1.4 lakhs subsidy on each acre cultivation.

He urged the students make regular visits to agriculture fields to motivate farmers to follow the right farming practices. Assuring 140 acres of land acquisition close to the varsity for their research, Harish Rao urged the students to identify crops and practices to make the farming profitable. The Minister asked them to work on ways to restrict the investment, fertiliser, pesticide use on crops and increase the yield. He has observed that research will become meaningful when the fruits of research at Horticulture Varsity reach the field. When the management has brought several issues to their notice, Rao has assured to get sufficient funds, land, recruitment, and others by pursuing with Chief Minister.

The Minister went through an exhibition of crops put on display at th Varsity. Zilla Parishad. Vice-chancellor Prof Neeraja Prabhakar, Zilla Parishad Chairperson V Roja, Forest Development Corporation Chairman Vanteru Prathapa Reddy, MLC Dr V Yadava Reddy, Additional Collector Muzammil Khan and others were present.

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