Farmers being trained on crop diversification: Niranjan Reddy

Hyderabad: Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy on Thursday said that department has taken up training programmes in a big way to create awareness among farmers about alternative crops. At a review meeting, he said about 8,098 of 22,123 training programmes were conducted. He asked the department officials to make use of technology besides print and electronic media to provide information to farmers on agriculture-allied sectors.

As part of the crop diversification, the Minister reviewed the status of raising oil palm nurseries. As per the specified time-frame, Reddy asked the officials to ensure farmers are provided oil palm saplings by next rainy season. He clarified that sufficient stocks were available to meet the demand for the Yasangi season.

He stressed that farmers should cultivate cotton in a big way in the ensuing season as its price touched Rs 7,000 a quintal, as against Rs 6,025 of Minimum Support Price.