Telangana government has welcomed the agriculture infrastructure fund proposed by Centre and expressed the hope that such a scheme would help in development of the sector, beside attracting investments.
Though it was proposed that the Centre will bear 3% of interest levied on loans taken to invest in agriculture sector, it is better if there is no interest at all. If interest-free loans are given, the sector will invite more investments, Agriculture Minister S. Niranjan Reddy suggested to Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar at the latter's video conference with Chief Ministers and Agriculture Ministers of States to get their feedback on agriculture infrastructure fund.
Deputises for KCR
Mr. Niranjan Reddy deputised for Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao who was at a separate meeting with a delegation of the NABARD. The Agriculture Minister informed Mr. Tomar that the cropped area in the State had increased by 39% over last year due to increased irrigation facilities and pro-farmer policies of the State government.
The cropped area as on date is 1.36 crore acres but is likely to go up by another four to five lakh acres in the coming days. Mr. Reddy appealed to the Centre to step up supply of fertilizer, particularly urea, to Telangana in view of higher agricultural operations. He sought clarity on reforms in maintenance of agriculture markets proposed by the Centre.
Pat for Rythu Bandhu
Earlier, Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture Sanjay Agarwal praised the Rytu Bandhu scheme and farmers coordination committees in the State. He hoped that the agriculture infrastructure fund would be implemented successfully with the network created by farmers committees.
