Telangana government gears up to establish special food processing zones

Telangana has favourable soils and climate for production of different seeds, making it ideal for farmers to diversify cultivation methods and focus on seed production, said Niranjan Reddy

Hyderabad: To make Telangana self-sustainable in seed production, the State government is gearing up to establish special food processing zones for both seed and food processing industries in the State. Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy said Telangana which has become a seed bowl of the world, was still importing certain variety of seeds and suggested that farmers focus on seed production to overcome any shortfall.

The Minister, who inaugurated the Seed Mela 2023 at Prof Jayashankar Telangana State Agriculture University here on Wednesday, said Telangana has favourable soils and climate for production of different seeds, making it ideal for farmers to diversify cultivation methods and focus on seed production. “Seeds from Telangana have huge demand in domestic and international market. As the demand is expected to increase further considering the growing need for crop production, farmers should take up seed production as per the market demand to maximise their profits,” he said.

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Observing the limitations of natural resources in proportion to growing population, Niranjan Reddy called upon the scientists and the officials to concentrate on increasing the crop yield. He emphasised the need to create awareness among farmers to reduce excessive use of fertilisers and pesticides to avoid adverse impact on soil fertility. Farmers were advised to engage in cattle farming and were cautioned that and also fodder cultivation to mitigate shortage of animal feed in Telangana and neighbouring States.

On the occasion, the Minister emphasised the need for a comprehensive agriculture policy in the country which will be beneficial to all stakeholders especially farmers. He pointed out that due to pro-agricultural and farmer-friendly initiatives of the Telangana government, the agriculture sector had witnessed a significant growth. Indicating the significant role played by Telangana in food grain production in the country in future, he stated that the State accounted for about 56 lakh acres out of 94 lakh acres cultivated for paddy in the country during the recently concluded Yasangi (Rabi) season.

More than 45 varieties of crop seeds were made available for farmers at the Seed Mela 2023 where seeds pertaining to around 10 crops including paddy, maize and others were kept for sale at the PJTSAU, along with Palem, Jagtial, and Warangal agricultural research stations. Several research and academic institutions including PJTSAU and ICAR (Indian Council for Agricultural Research) set up their stalls at the Seed Mela.

MLC Surabhi Vani Devi, Telangana Seed Corporation chairman Konda Balakoteswara Rao, Agriculture special commissioner K Hanumanthu, PJTSAU registrar Sudhir Kumar and several agricultural scientists and farmers representatives participated.