Kakani Govardhan Reddy slams Opposition for distorting his comments on rice

Nellore: Agriculture minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy lambasted the Opposition and some media for distorting his advice to farmers to give preference to profitable crops. He said that farmers in the state are facing losses due to the increased cost of rice cultivation and asked them to go for alternative crops at certain intervals.

Addressing the media here on Tuesday, the minister alleged that his comments were misinterpreted to the effect that he had asked them not to cultivate paddy as it would impose financial burden on the state government. "I categorically say that the government has no objection to farmers continuing with rice cultivation," he said.

Showing the video of his speech delivered during a programme at ANGRAU in Guntur, he said the state government is ready to procure paddy from the farmers and added that he does not want to blame the farmers for cultivation. He said he did not say that procuring paddy was a problem for the government.

Govardhan Reddy said that the ministry of agriculture encourages farmers to reduce cultivation of traditional crops like rice and grow profitable alternative crops, adopt water conservation methods and follow scientific methods in agriculture. But this has been completely distorted by some media causing confusion among farmers.

"We have increased paddy production by 13 lakh tonne this year by developing several new varieties. Some media houses are not reporting that N Chandrababu Naidu had failed to pay dues to the farmers. The civil supplies system in the state has collapsed due to the unscientific methods of the previous government. But they did not notice the many failures in the agriculture sector during the TDP government," the minister lamented.

He urged the Opposition and some media houses to see the crop yields and support being extended to the farmers in the state.

He said that unable to digest the development in farm sector, Opposition leaders were trying to mislead the innocent farmers. He suggested that as responsible Opposition and media representatives, they should suggest methods to improve the systems.