‘Arrangements made for sowing pulses as third crop’

Eluru: Collector K Bhaskar said that everything has been set for cultivating pulses as a third crop in the district and directed agriculture officials to take up necessary steps to keep ready the seed of green gram and black gram over an area of three lakh acres. He suggested the farmers to advance the rabi crop to enable the cultivation of the third crop. He reviewed the progress of priority sectors development in a meeting held at Collectorate here on Wednesday.

The Collector said that before the closure of canals, water will be supplied for third crop one time and added that during April, water will be released for the second time. He asked the officials to keep the necessary rain guns for the second time water release during April. He directed officials to collect the rain gun data from Chittoor, Anantapur, Kurnool and Prakasam districts to utilise them during the third crop.

The Collector also directed animal husbandry officials to set up fodder fields and supply the fodder to farmers for Rs 1 per kg. Officials should supply fertilisers and pesticides through the e-pos system, he reiterated.The Collector directed the irrigation officials to chalk out a comprehensive plan to supply irrigation water to tail-end lands during rabi, inspect the irrigation channels and drains and clear the obstructions in flowing of water in the channels.

He directed the officials to remove the fish tanks to allow the free flow of water in irrigation channels and drains. Joint Collector-2 MH Sheriff, Agriculture Joint Director Y Sai Lakshmeswari, Lead Bank Manager M Subrahmanyeswara Rao and irrigation officials participated in the meeting.