Regretting that some people are spreading false news on social media that consuming chicken and watermelon causes coronavirus, Minister for Agriculture B.C. Patil has said that this false information has resulted in a huge loss to the poultry industry and watermelon farmers of the State.
“False and unsubstantiated information have badly impacted the poultry farmers. People stopped eating chicken, and many farmers had no choice but to kill the birds as they were no longer in a position to feed them,” he said.
Addressing presspersons after a review meeting here on Tuesday, he said that the indirect effect of this was also seen on maize farmers losing profits.
He said that maize is the main feed for poultry. With the poultry industry incurring heavy loss, so was the case with maize farmers as their commodity remained unsold.
He urged media to spread awareness and dispel such false messages to help farmers.
Mr. Patil also asked the people not to believe in any such unscientific information and eat chicken if they wished without hesitation.
Stating that the government had not restricted any agricultural activities during the ongoing nation-wide lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Minister said that the government has directed the officials not to stop farmers involved in agriculture activities.
He said that the government has adequate stock of seeds and fertilizers for the coming kharif season.
“We do understand the fact that everyone, including farmers, are facing a great problem due to the lockdown. The government is making every effort to bring relief to farmers during a critical situation. I am not saying that we are addressing every issue of farmers. However, we are trying our best,” Mr. Patil said.
To a question, he said that a direction has been given to the district administration to keep the online trading centre for raisins functioning to help grape farmers.
He said that the farmers could also use cold storages of the State to keep their commodities. “We have 132 cold storages with 3,650 tonnes of storage capacity in the State. The farmers could use them to preserve their commodities,” he said.
