Hyderabad, Jun 9 (PTI) Telangana Agriculture Secretary M Raghunandan Rao on Thursday asked Indian Agricultural Universities Association (IAUA) to make efforts to bring emerging technologies to small and marginal farmers in the state.
Addressing a two-day symposium organised by IAUA and Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU), the senior bureaucrat also highlighted new initiatives taken in the last few years in the farm sector.
Due to the continuous efforts, gross sown area has been increased to one crore acres in Telangana while around Rs 1.3 lakh crore has been spent on irrigation projects to provide water to the farmers in the state, an official statement quoted the secretary as saying at the event.
Under the government’s ‘Mission Kakatiya’ scheme, about 43,000 major and minor irrigation tanks were restored to enable the irrigation water supply to ayacut under lakes (tanks).
Another major initiative, the Rythu Bandhu scheme, has ensured Rs 50,000 crore has been transferred to the farmers’ accounts through direct benefit transfer (DBT) mode since its inception, while 24-hour uninterrupted free power supply is also being provided, he said.
With the support of the PJTSAU, the extension system in the agricultural department has been strengthened as for every 5,000 acres one agricultural extension officer was appointed and about 2,600 ‘raithu vedikas’ were constructed for every 5,000 acres, he added.
PJTSAU Vice Chancellor V Praveen Rao, IAUA President R K Mittal and ITC Ltd Group Head of Agri and IT Business S Siva Kumar were among others present at the event. PTI LUX HDA HDA
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