In a bid to help the sweet lime and acid lime farmers facing marketing problems for their produce due to the COVID-19 lockdown, ministers S. Niranjan Reddy, G. Jagadish Reddy and P. Sabitha Indra Reddy have asked the farmers not to be hasty in harvesting the crop stating that the government would find ways to dispose the produce.
In a review meeting held with the farmers of the two orchard crops, mainly grown in Nalgonda, Bhongir, Gadwal, Narayanpet, Mahabubnagar and Wanaparthy districts here on Tuesday, the ministers instructed Commissioner of Horticulture L. Venkatrami Reddy to speak to juice factories in Jalgoan and Nanded in Maharashtra to supply the fruits.
They have also decided to approach Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao with a request to take the matter of supply of the fruits to the Army by talking to the Centre. They stated that they were exploring every possible option to help farmers, who were ready to reduce the price of the produce reasonably due to the lockdown conditions.
According to officials, the sweet lime is grown in about 70,000 acres in Telangana with nearly 50,000 acres in Nalgonda district alone. Similarly, acid lime is grown in about 35,000 acres in the State with about 16,000 acres in Nalgonda and another 9,000 acres in Suryapet districts. Both the fruit crops give an average yield of about 8 tonnes per acre.
The ministers also discussed about the steps needed to take improve the consumption of the two fruits within the State by creating awareness among all sections. Instead of consuming the fruits stored in cold storages, consumption of fresh fruits was always healthy practice. It was also decided at the meeting to publicise in residential colonies, apartment complexes and gated communities about the uses of lime fruits consumption during the COVID conditions.
They also told the officials to speak to the sweet lime traders at Sirivella in Kurnool district. On a request from the farmers that they would themselves contact traders at New Delhi provided accommodation in Telangana Bhavan, the ministers directed the officials concerned to arrange the accommodation immediately.
Legislators K. Bhupal Reddy and Ch. Lingaiah, MP B. Lingaiah Yadav, Nalgonda District Collector Prashant J. Patil, Horticulture and Marketing Department officials attended the meeting.
