Need to develop crop colonies, to make agriculture sustainable: Niranjan Reddy

He underscored the need to create a robust marketing system and establishment of food processing industries, to give value addition to the crops

Hyderabad: Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy emphasised on the need to promote development of crop colonies across the country, to make agriculture sustainable and remunerative for farmers. He underscored the need to create a robust marketing system and establishment of food processing industries, to give value addition to the crops.

He was speaking at an international seminar on “Developing value chain in Agriculture” held at the inaugural session of VAIGA-2023 (Value Chain Development in Agriculture) being held in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday. He said through agricultural reforms, they will not only improve the income of the farmers but also to attract youth towards the age-old profession.

Niranjan Reddy said India had different soils and climatic conditions which have huge impact on crops cultivated in the country. Hence, he stressed over the need to divide and develop crop colonies based on the crops cultivated in every State to create a support system. “There is no substitute for food. Hence, the Telangana government is giving highest priority to agriculture and farmers by bringing new reforms as well as encouraging crop diversification to meet the dynamic market demands,” he said,
Considering the increased consumption of millets due to changing food consumption paterns, he suggested to scale up the production and promote food processing industries. “There is a need not only to improve productivity and production but also for value addition to export the farm produce and help farmers earn better income,” he added.

On the occasion, Niranajan Reddy said agriculture was playing a vital role in the inclusive growth and planned social and economic development of Telangana. With about 1.5 crore acres or 51 percent of the State’s land and 65 lakh farmers, he said agriculture was contributing a healthy 18.2 percent to the GSDP (gross state domestic product) as per the recent estimates. He said soils in Telangana were suitable for wide-ranging crops and seed production.