Agriculture Minister B.C. Patil laid the foundation stone for a girls hostel to be constructed at a cost of ₹4.11 crore on the Agriculture College premises in Bheemarayanagudi, Shahapur taluk of Yadgir district, on Wednesday.
He said that farmers should switch to crops that will bring double income while protecting the quality of soil by adopting a comprehensive agriculture system.
“Farmers should choose different crops based on the changing climate because growing the same crops will adversely affect the soil. This is what agriculture scientists are advising farmers often. They should switch to different crops to make agriculture a benefit-oriented vocation. Therefore, farmers should adopt the new system and grow crops to get more benefit,” the Minister said.
Mr. Patil said that farmers dependent on the Upper Krishna Project are getting sufficient canal water. Therefore, they should not give more importance to growing paddy which obviously requires more water but [they should] prefer crops that require light irrigation.
“Also, farmers should make use of the benefits provided by the Union Government under the Atma Nirbhar Scheme to establish food processing units,” he added.
Stating that technical education is facing tough competition from agriculture education, he said that 10 per cent seats in agriculture education are reserved for students from agricultural families and each student from all communities are getting ₹11,500 scholarship under the Vidyanidhi Scheme.
Member of Legislative Assembly Sharanabasappagowda Darshanapur, who presided over the programme, said that nationalised banks are providing more loans to industrialists instead of agriculturists. Therefore, the Agriculture Minister should address such discrimination meted out to agriculturists and give proper directions to bankers, he added.
Chairman of Krishna CADA Sharanappa Talawar, Vice-Chancellor of University of Agricultural Sciences in Raichur K.M. Kattimani, Deputy Commissioner R. Ragapriya, Chief Executive Officer Shilpa Sharma, Education Director M.B. Patil, Dean Channabasavanna and others were present.
