Hyderabad: Minister Niranjan Reddy calls for new agriculture policy

Hyderabad: Minister for Agriculture Singireddy Niranjan Reddy said that there was a need of reforms in the agriculture sector and the country needed a new agriculture policy for protecting the interests of farmers.

Speaking at a programme after launching the 'Seed Mela-2023' at Acharya Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University, Rajendra Nagar here on Wednesday, Minister Niranjan Reddy said despite the country having a large scale land for the cultivation, farmers were not able to produce quality seeds and the country was still depending on the imports.

He said the BRS government led by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had been implementing many welfare schemes for farmers since the formation of Telangana State and the agriculture ayacut had improved drastically after the construction of the Kaleshwaram project in the State.

Stating that the Telangana region is very suitable for the production of quality seeds, the Minister said the State government was taking various measures to increase the seed production and hoped that the State would reach the level of supplying seeds to the other countries in the days to come.

The Minister informed that the seed fair would also be held at three regional agricultural research stations of Jagityala, Palem and Warangal and Krishi Science Centers in Telangana soon.

In the seed mela, a total of 45 types of seeds belonging to 10 types of crops along with fodder seeds and organic fertilizers are available for sale.