TNN | May 9, 2022,
Coimbatore: Agriculture minister M R K Panneerselvam on Sunday said the government was making efforts to turn the state into a leading producer of cotton in the country by increasing the area under the crop cultivation.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the corporate office of Rasi Seeds at Puliakulam here on the day, he said the area under cotton cultivation would be increased to 4.53 lakh acres this year from 3.5 lakh acres in the previous year.
Pointing out that the state was ranked third in the country in cotton production presently, the minister said the government was working on placing the state in number one position in this front in the country. Panneerselvam said the state has cultivated paddy on an additional five lakh acres this year.
“Researchers at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) are working on introducing a paddy variety that could withstand drought and rain. Similarly, several research activities are going on to boost the agriculture sector in the state.”
Earlier, municipal administration minister K N Nehru stressed on the need for consumer preference research to develop quality seeds that would help the farmers. “We have introduced several paddy varieties, but they failed over a period of time. Whereas, Andhra ponni variety continues to rule the market. Research activities to produce quality seeds must be enhanced to help the farmers.”
Singireddy Niranjan Reddy, minister for agriculture cooperation and marketing in Telangana, said the day when India would be the sole country to cater for the food needs of the entire world was very close. “We must work with a vision to make quality food products with a target on the international market.”
Criticising the Union government for not focusing enough on agriculture, he said the state governments were discharging their duties to the people in this regard. The event was attended by electricity minister V Senthil Balaji, chairman of Rasi Seeds M Ramasami and vice-chairman and managing director of Bayer India Limited D Narain. (Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com)