VP wants adequate credit for farmers
The Vice President, M. Venkaiah Naidu, has called for quality power supply, development of rural infrastructure including godowns, cold storage facilities, refrigerator vans among others to boost the agriculture sector.
He also called for timely and adequate credit to the farmers while urging scientists and researchers to come up with new innovations and ideas to find solutions to the challenges faced by the sector.
The Vice President inaugurated the 2nd Edition of Exhibition and Conference on Agri-technology & Innovation at Prof. Jayashankar Telangana State Agriculture University in Hyderabad on 22 Feb 2020.
He said that there has to be a meeting of minds between scientists, researchers, Krishi Vigyan Kendras and farmers, who are the main stakeholders, to adopt best practices and make agriculture remunerative.
The Vice President also called on the agriculture universities to focus on developing new varieties including the pest resistant and climate smart variants, apart from enhancing the productivity levels.
Calling for the diversification of agriculture, the Vice President said that farmers should be encouraged to grow new crops in addition to traditional crops. He also stressed the need for taking up ancillary activities such as poultry, dairy, horticulture and aquaculture to supplement the farmer’s income.
The Vice President also emphasised the need for post-harvest management and providing support to the farmers.
Naidu also highlighted the need for promoting food processing and value addition of agri products.
He urged all entrepreneurs to evolve effective models in the food processing sector after consulting the scientific community, experts and farmers.
Expressing concerns over the fast depleting water resources, Shri Naidu called for preservation and protection of traditional water bodies. fiinews.com