Hyderabad:The Telangana government on Tuesday informed the Centre that many mandals in the state were facing deficit and severe deficit in rainfall and sought assistance for the state.
Agriculture minister Tummala Nageswara Rao, speaking at the National Rabi Conference in New Delhi, said many mandals were reeling under the impact of El Nino, changing rainfall patterns and prolonged dry spells. He urged the Centre to extend special assistance to such mandals for encouraging micro-irrigation, for taking up protective irrigation, and build water conservation structures.
Earlier, Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan in his address at the conference said that Telangana was among the states in peninsular India which was seeing serious rain deficit. He said that when the Rabi crop season started, states must pay attention to soil moisture levels and water availability.
Nageswara Rao also requested that because of the prevailing El Nino and drought conditions, the Centre should bring maize and sorghum under the price support scheme, adding that sorghum, which can withstand water stress, was a suitable crop for drought-affected areas.
As part of the state’s efforts to insulate farmers from the impact of the poor monsoon, it was giving priority to crop diversification. Farmers, he said, were being encouraged to shift towards alternative crops based on water availability and climatic conditions. This has resulted in a significant increase in cultivation of pulses with Telangana now ranking second in the country on this front, he added.
On oil palm cultivation, he requested the Centre to restore the import duty on crude palm oil to the earlier 44 per cent, adding that while promoting oil palm cultivation domestically is fine, import policies also need to be favourable to domestic farmers. Nageswara Rao also asked the Centre to grant 16 more Krishi Vigyan Kendras for Telangana, provide Central support for the proposed Kodangal Agri Business Park and Centre of Excellence.
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