Amaravati, Oct 8: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy held a review meeting on Agri Infra projects and directed the officials to ensure remunerative prices to farmers.
During the review meeting held at camp office here on Friday, the Chief Minister said healthy competition should be created in purchase of agricultural products so that farmers will get remunerative prices. He said the government should intervene if the prices fall for agricultural products and support farmers through price stabilization fund. The Chief Minister said the performance of RBKs has been lauded across the country and added that fertilizers, pesticides and seeds of good quality are available at better prices in RBKs. The Chief Minister instructed the officials to ensure farmers receive the orders once placed in RBKs. The Chief Minister said some vested interests are propagating false information on RBKs. The officials said RBKs will act as Sub Dealers from next Rabi season and it would be more beneficial to farmers. The Chief Minister instructed the officials to set up community hiring centers at locations where paddy is being cultivated.
The Chief Minister instructed the officials to encourage farmers to cultivate alternative crops like millets instead of paddy under bore wells and said to provide incentives to farmers who cultivate alternate crops and added to set up processing plants at these locations. The officials said they were setting up seed cum millet processing units at 33 places and 20 units will be ready by this December and added that they have set a target to complete 33 units by March 2022 and make them available for next kharif. The officials informed the Chief Minister that BMCs identified in the order of priority will be completed by December. They said milk collection was on the rise in the districts where the Jagananna Paala Velluva programme is being carried out. The Chief Minister said false information is being propagated on Jagananna Paala Velluva programme and added that Amul is not a private company, but a cooperative dairy which was being operated by farmers to whom the profits are being passed on and added that conditions were created to hike milk procurement price after Amul entered the market.
The officials explained the Chief Minister the progress of works related to setting up food processing units and the latter directed the officials to expedite the works. The officials informed the Chief Minister that works related to fishing harbours in Juvvaladinne, Nizampatnam, Machilipatnam and Uppada are in progress and will be almost completed by July. The Chief Minister instructed the officials to focus on works related to remaining five fishing harbours.
Agriculture Minister Kurasala Kannababu, Agriculture Special Chief Secretary Poonam Malakondaiah, Agriculture Marketing Principal Secretary Y Madhusudan Reddy, Food Processing, Industries and Commerce Secretary Mukesh Kumar Meena, Finance Secretary N Gulzar, APDDCF limited MD A Babu, Agriculture Commissioner H Arun Kumar, Agriculture Marketing Commissioner P S Pradhyumna, Fisheries Commissioner K Kannababu, Horticulture Commissioner Dr S S Sridhar, Seeds Corporation VC and MD G Shekar Babu, Maritime Board CEO K Muralidharan and other officials were present.
