Hyderabad: The State government was striving to increase the income of the farmers by adopting best agricultural practices and utilization of best technologies available across the globe, said Agriculture Minister S. Niranjan Reddy on Tuesday at the Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) campus.
The PJTSAU organized an Interaction meeting with Agriculture Minister and a team of scientists of International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philliphines on project proposal at the Robing Hall in University Auditorium, at Rajendranagar.
Addressing the meeting Niranjan Reddy stressed the need to implement water saving and time saving technologies in the Rice crop which are very much required for the Telangana State. He also said the Centre has set a goal to double the farmers’ income by 2022 and to achieve this goal, States also should have the its own strategies to improve the farmers’ income, he added.
Under the able leadership of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, the newly-formed Telangana State was spending more than Rs 20,000 crore to the agriculture sector for ensuring farming profitable for the farmers in the State and also implementing several programs for welfare of the farming community. The proposed project prepared by the IRRI will definitely helpful to the farmers and also improve the water saving and time saving technologies in the paddy crop. He exuded confidence that the project proposal will be definitely agreed by the Chief Minister for extending new technologies to the farmers.
Earlier, the Deputy Director General, Research, IRRI Dr Jacquelin Hughes gave a power-point presentation on “Improving Farmers’ Income and Nutrition security in Rice – Based Agri – food system in Telangana”. He said the proposed project would ensure doubling of farmers’ income, sustainable water management in agriculture, developing of stress-tolerant rice varieties for sustainable farming and developing of low glycemic index varieties. He also said the project will also provide mechanization and post-harvest business models, capacity development and knowledge exchange to the scholars, staff and farmers. By implementing the project, there will be increase in income, also increased rice yield, additional yield in pulses and other crops may achieved.
The main objective of the proposed the project was to provide world class infrastructure, capacity development of the staff and develop strategies required for the State, said the PJTSAU Vice-Chancellor Dr V Praveen Rao. It also provides the international exposure to the scientists of the University, he added. Director, IRRI Varanasi Center Dr Aravind Kumar, several IRRI scientists, Director of Research Dr R Jagadeeshwar, several scientists from PJTSAU, University officers attended the interaction meeting. (NSS)
