Agriculture Minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy today exhorted the farming community to be wary of spurious and fake seeds being sold in the open market.
Addressing a gathering after launching Seed Mela at Prof Jayashankar Agriculture University in Rajendra Nagar here the minister said that those who believe in land did not suffer loss and who sold it have faced the problem. The government was offering 50 per cent subsidy on basic seeds to the farmers, who should make use of the benefits, he suggested. “Chandrasekhar Rao is the only Chief Minister in the world to provide Rs 8000 per acre a year towards crop investment, he claimed.
“We the farmers and people of th estate should feel proud of such schemes in the state and kept adequate stocks of 7.5 lakhs qwintals of seeds and 8 lakh quintals of fertilisers for the farmers for Rainy season he said. The farmers should be careful while purchasing the seeds for cultivating and chose the original and better yielding ones”, he said. The Agriculture Minister also expressed concern that fake seeds and spurious seeds are being sold in the market despite taking measures against that. The Government has initiated steps against such businessmen, he said. He also warned of taking stringent measures against them who should desist from doing fake business. The government has launched rythu bandhu scheme first of its kind in the country to provide crop investment to the farmers who should not suffer the loan related problems he said.
Srinivas Reddy said that the government procured 30 lakh tons of paddy crop through 3600 purchase centers in the state giving Rs 1420 msp for maize while other states giving Rs 1100 per quintal. The state has sent a resolution to the Centre to consider each village a unit to extend insurance coverage and modalities on farmer insurance are being finalised to implement the same in the state. The government will launch Rs 5 lakh insurance for the death of a farmer on June 2, he added.
Later he visited the Rice section at Agriculture Research Institute in Rajendranagar along with VC PJTSAU Dr. V.Praveen Rao and TSSDC Chairman Sri. Kondabala Koteshwar rao. And he has seen the functioning of paddy transplanter. At this occasion the scientists explained the working condition of transplanter.
The Directors of ICAR research institutes based at Rajendranagar Dr. Vishnuvardhan Reddy, Dr. SR Oleti, Dr. Vilas A. Tonapi, Director of Research PJTSAU Dr. Jagadeeshwar, TSSOCA Director Dr. Keshavulu and large number of farmers, scientists of PJTSAU and other ICAR institutes, Horticulture University, Board of Management Committee members, University officers of PJTSAU were present (NSS)