A delegation led by Minister for Agriculture Minister S. Niranjan Reddy visited grape and guava orchards and interacted with horticulture officials and farmers in Shirdi area of Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra on Friday as part of visit to other States to study agriculture, horticulture and industries based on them and food processing units to encourage farmers back home to go for crop diversification.
Along with the Minister, legislators Balka Suman, Gandra Venkatramana Reddy, Peddi Sudershan Reddy and Ala Venkateshwar Reddy Director of Horticulture L. Venkatrami Reddy, Joint Director Sarojini Devi and others visited the orchards and interacted with farmers and Maharashtra official during the visit. In earlier visits, delegations from the State led by Mr. Niranjan Reddy visited Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
The Telangana delegation enquired about the details of rainfall, crops cultivated, irrigation facilities and agricultural marketing facility in Shirdi and Ahmednagar areas. The Minister stated that they would also visit Jalna area to study agriculture and horticulture crops being cultivated there and the industries established based on such produce for value addition.
Speaking during the visit, Mr. Niranjan Reddy said there was a need to divide the farmlands in the country as crop colonies based on local soils, weather conditions, consumption patterns and market demand as such a system would help plan in advance the required every crop in the country for consumption within the country as also export potential, which in turn would help farmers get remunerative price to their produce.
However, the Centre was not focusing on the issue although it was mandated to help the farming community in the matter of agricultural marketing and exports. The Centre could guide the farmers on cropping patterns based on market demand and export potential by dividing the farmlands into crop colonies.
Stating that the government was working towards crop diversification in the State to improve the income of farmers, the minister suggested the youth to take to farming as a profession and practice it in combination of technology as a world of opportunities await them along with income.
