Chief Secretary S K Joshi bats for roof gardening

Hyderabad: Chief Secretary S K Joshi on Wednesday called for sustained efforts to take up roof-garden cultivation on a war-footing basis in the twin cities. He stressed on the importance of residents taking up cultivation of their daily required vegetables and other items.

He was speaking as the chief guest at the first state-level workshop on ‘Urban farming and vertical gardens’ at the Centre of Excellence in Jeedimetla. The workshop noted that the consumption of vegetables in Telangana was far from the recommended intake as per the survey conducted by the Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University in collaboration with National Academy of Agricultural Research management (NAARM). 

The State’s average productivity of vegetables is only 13 mts per hectare, as against the national average of 17 mts. Its total vegetable annual requirement is 38.54 lakh mt (for population of 3.52 crore @ 300 gm per person a day). There is a huge gap (22.60 lakh mts) between demand and supply of vegetables in Telangana. The gap is being met by importing from neighbouring States.

Agriculture Commissioner (production) Parthasaradhy, Director-General of National Institute of Plant Health Management (NIPHM), G Jayalakshmi, DG of National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE), V Usharani, Agricultural Commissioner Rahul Bojja, MD, TS, Oilfed, K Nirmala, Agricultural Marketing Commissioner G Lakshmi Bai were among the participants. As many as 600 roof-garden growers and enthusiasts were present. Prof Dr Susheela, Kerala Agricultural University, threw light on the technical knowhow required for vertical farming. She put up a display of various methods for creating awareness.

There were presentations by Dr Bharati Kulkarni, NIN Director (on importance of fruits & vegetables for health), by Hanuman Naik, senior scientist & head, Vegetable Research Station (on growing of vegetables on terraces), Nagaraju, guest faculty, MANAGE (on tips for urban farming), Y Venkateshwar Rao, chairman, Raithu Nestham Foundation (on organic farming), Rambabu of Saakshi (on promotion of urban farming through Intipanta). Farmers Raghothamma Reddy (Uppal), S V Subba Rao (Mehdipatnam) and Sambasivudu (ECIL) shared their experiences of successful urban farming.

BY Pathi Madhav