Rajamahendravaram: IAAB urges farmers to focus on alternative crops

Rajamahendravaram: A special meeting of the Irrigation and Agriculture Advisory Board (IAAB) has felt that the farmers should be aware of the cultivation of alternative crops to paddy in the face of dry spell in the district.

On Tuesday, the IAAB special meeting was held in the municipal corporation office under the chairmanship of Home Minister Taneti Vanitha.

She said that water resources should be used to the maximum extent for rice cultivation.

Instead of paddy, it is suggested to encourage the farmers to cultivate profitable crops such as corn, sugarcane, etc.,

She directed officials to educate the farmers through Rythu Bharosa Centres (RBKs) about alternative crop cultivation methods and take necessary steps for their cultivation. The officials were suggested to focus on profitable crops grown with less irrigation water. It is advised to take steps towards making good use of the funds allocated for irrigation projects. She claimed that theirs is a farmer welfare government.

District collector K Madhavi Latha said that 25 per cent less than normal rainfall has been recorded this year. Farmers should be made aware of the rain conditions. She stressed the need to bring awareness among the farmers about the cultivation of other crops.

The IAAB meeting should be held on the 3rd Friday of every month and positive discussions should be held on the availability of water resources and rainfall conditions at the field level, she proposed.

Decisions should be taken in coordination with agriculture, water resources, and revenue officials.

To implement the respective decisions, they should be discussed in the Mandal and RBKs level advisory council meeting.

She said it is important for farmers to have awareness about crops that can be cultivated with a positive attitude even in less rainfall conditions.

MP Margani Bharat Ram said silt needs to be removed from time to time to ensure sufficient water in the river.

Agriculture and revenue officials have expressed hope that there will be positive rainfall in September and October.

They said that sowing has been completed in 71980 hectares of paddy fields in the district.

It means 91.37 percent of the crops have been planted, they said.

Officials explained that although the government released irrigation water in the district on June 1, sowings were delayed due to lack of rain.

They said that there are 10,13,161 acres of cultivated area under irrigation projects.

In this meeting, ZP Chairman Vipparthi Venu Gopal, Joint Collector N Tej Bharat, Assistant Collector C Yashwanth Kumar, District Agriculture Advisory Board Chairperson Burugpalli Subbarao, DCCB Chairman Akula Veerraju, Irrigation SE G Srinivasa Rao, District Agriculture Officer S Madhava Rao and others participated.