Niranjan Reddy wants credit leverage to be increased for agri sector
Hyderabad: Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy wanted the bankers to extend their support and credit for oil palm cultivation, which was being promoted on a large scale in the State. Recognising the importance of sustainable agriculture, the State Government was encouraging farmers towards alternate crops as part of crop diversification, he said. Under this initiative, […]
Hyderabad: Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy wanted the bankers to extend their support and credit for oil palm cultivation, which was being promoted on a large scale in the State.
Recognising the importance of sustainable agriculture, the State Government was encouraging farmers towards alternate crops as part of crop diversification, he said. Under this initiative, the State Government was moving ahead with a long term plan of promoting oil palm cultivation. To this end, bankers at the field level should cooperate and extend credit to oil palm cultivation as per NABARD instructions, he said at the State Credit Seminar 2022 here on Thursday.
Addressing on the occasion, he applauded the successful partnership with NABARD in implementing Telangana’s flagship irrigation programmes like Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, Mission Kakatiya Project and others. These projects increased the gross cropped area in the State and now the focus was on diversification from paddy cultivation to oil palm cultivation, the Minister said. He complimented NABARD for being a valuable partner in the growth story of Telangana and emphasized on use of technology in agriculture as a means to retain youth in the sector.
NABARD CGM YK Rao said Telangana’s credit potential in the priority sector for the year 2022-23 worked out to Rs 1,66,384.90 crore, which was over 15 per cent of the potential estimated for 2021-22.
He said two major thrust areas, including financing of Farmer Producers’ Organisations and use of Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture, have been identified by NABARD for the year 2022-23. This apart, strengthening cooperatives and promoting oil palm would continue to be the focus area for NABARD for the year 2022-23 as well. “We will constitute a Sub Committee for fixing unit cost of drone based technology to be used in agriculture activity,” said YK Rao.
Government gearing up for establishment of food processing units
Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy said Telangana Government was setting up special zones in the agriculture sector and food processing to increase the income of farmers’ in the State. To this effect, the Government was gearing up to establish food processing units in each district. Efforts were on to identify 500 acres in every district towards this initiative, he said.
Apart from food processing units, these zones will be equipped with godowns and the requisite infrastructure and bankers should assist even in exporting the farmers’ products, the Minister said.
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