Minister for Roads and Buildings V. Prashanth Reddy has called upon farmers to follow the cultivation of crops that have demand in market and would bring profit, as suggested by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
He said in his Balkonda constituency, in the last kharif, farmers cultivated crop in over 60,000 acres and this season too they were expected to raise it almost in the same acreage. However, they should raise sanna rakam in 30,000 acres and doddu rakam in the remaining 30,000 acres, he said.
Addressing a gathering of chairpersons of Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies, representatives of rythu samitis, elected representatives of local bodies and authorities at his native village Velpur, on Sunday, he asked them to wean away farmers form sowing maize in monsoon. He said of the 30,000 acres in which farmers raised maize in the last monsoon, soya bean must be raised in 25,000 acres this season.
In the remaining 5,000 acres cotton, red gram and vegetable could be grown. Turmeric was being cultivated in 40,000 acres every monsoon and maize would be allowed to be planted as an inter crop of turmeric in rainy season, he said.
Mr. Prashanth Reddy said that in the country every State government was purchasing less than 30 per cent of the crop produced whereas in Telangana the TRS government was purchasing 100 per cent from farmers. Every time State and Central governments might not procure the crop from farmers, and hence they should grow the crops which would have demand and fetch profitable price, he added.
The Minister further said that the Opposition parties indulged in misinformation campaign that if farmers did not raise crops suggested by Chief Minister they would not get Rythu Bandhu benefits. He, however, said that farmers would get the scheme benefits as long as KCR would be in power. Farmers need not be worried about the continuation of the scheme, he said.