Farmers should opt for alternative crop: Jagadish Reddy

Nalgonda: Minister for Energy G Jagadish Reddy on Tuesday stated that it is duty of agriculture officials to educate farmers on crops that are in demand in the market.

He participated in a review meeting held with officials of Agriculture, Co-operatIives, Police Departments and millers on the need to opt for alternative crops in Yasangi and the purchase of paddy of Vanakalam, On Tuesday.

Speaking on the occasion, he said that the State government is purchasing paddy in the interest of farmers.

He lauded the officials of all the departments who worked hard in procuring paddy at record level during the pandemic period.

There is no possibility of purchasing of paddy in the coming Yasangi as per the directions of the Center, he added.

Farmers should be encouraged to cultivate other crops instead of paddy, he asserted. He said that the Central companies like FCI were not in a position to buy paddy as adequate stocks of paddy had been accumulated, he said.

He advised officials concerned to visit villages and create awareness among the farmers on benefits of alternative crops like oil palm, millets, groundnut, castor, sesame, green gram in Yasangi season.

He said that the tokens should be issued to farmers for a systematic purchasing of paddy of Vanakalam. He urged the officials of horticulture to encourage the farmers to cultivate vegetables.

District Collector Prashant Jeevan Patil, SP A V Ranga Nath, Additional Collector V Chandra Shekhar, Assistant Collector (Trainee) Apoorv Chauhan, MLAs Kancharla Bhopal Reddy, N Bhaskar Rao, Rythu Bandhu district committee president Ram Chandra Nayak, municipal chairman Saidi Reddy, District Civil Supplies Officer Venkateshwarlu, District Agriculture Officer G Sridhar Reddy, Horticulture Officer Sangeetha Lakshmi, District Co-operative Officer Prasad, Civil Supplies Officer DM Nageshwara Rao, Marketing Officer Srikanth, District Transport Officer Suresh Reddy and others attended the meeting.