Union Minister lauds Telangana for taking up oil palm cultivation

Hyderabad: Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shobha Karandlaje on Monday emphasised the need to promote agriculture exports to facilitate doubling of farmers’ income within a fixed time frame. She assured that the Centre would consider the Telangana government’s request for extending cent per cent subsidy to encourage oil palm cultivation. Addressing […]

Hyderabad: Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shobha Karandlaje on Monday emphasised the need to promote agriculture exports to facilitate doubling of farmers’ income within a fixed time frame. She assured that the Centre would consider the Telangana government’s request for extending cent per cent subsidy to encourage oil palm cultivation.

Addressing a meeting with senior agriculture officials of the State and Central governments at BRKR Bhavan here, the Union Minister called for setting up a dedicated cell to monitor agriculture exports which would coordinate with the Centre, State government, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and the farmers, to ensure that the farmers get value addition to their produce. She said the Central government would work closely with the State government to propel India’s growth as a major exporter of agriculture products.

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Shobha Karandlaje complimented the Telangana government for taking up the ambitious programme of growing oil palm in 20 lakh acres in the State which would help the country save a lot in foreign exchange. She expressed satisfaction over the State’s planned approach to cultivate oil palm in three lakh acres during the first phase. She also promised the Centre’s support to encourage the cultivation of oil seeds like groundnut and sunflower as well as pulses.

Agriculture and Marketing Minister S Niranjan Reddy stated that the focus of the State government was to increase profitability for farmers, retain rural youth in agriculture, crop diversification, farm mechanisation, increased emphasis on horticulture, especially oil palm and improving nutrient and fertiliser efficiency. He also explained to the Union Minister about various initiatives of the State government which had resulted in 38 per cent increase in crop area and 68 per cent increase in crop production during the last seven years.

Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Joint Secretary for Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shomitha Biswas, Telangana Agriculture Secretary M Raghunandan Rao, Agriculture Commissioner Hanumant Kondiba Zendage, Horticulture Director L Venkatram Reddy, Prof Jayashankar Telangana State Agriculture University (PJTSAU) vice-chancellor Dr V Praveen Rao and Sri Konda Laxman Telangana State Horticulture University vice-chancellor Neeraja Prabhakar, and other officials from ICAR, IIMR, MANAGE and other agricultural research organisations participated in the meeting.

Later, the Union Minister visited the Center of Excellence (vegetables and flowers) at Jeedimetla in Hyderabad and launched a scheme to cultivate crops on building terraces. She emphasised the importance of adapting to technologies and trends like urban farming methods in today’s world. She also presented certificates of appreciation to urban farmers trained at the Telangana Horticulture Training Institute in Hyderabad.

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