Agriculture Minister S. Niranjan Reddy suggested the creation of machines useful for small holdings in the country so that farmers with limited incomes could afford them, and in the process, to address the labor shortage.
As part of the state government’s plan to promote mechanization in agriculture, a delegation led by Mr Reddy visited an agricultural machinery manufacturing unit, a model agriculture market committee and a groundnut processing unit at Rajkot in Gondal, Gujarat on Thursday .
The delegation included Secretary (Agriculture) M. Raghunandan Rao, TS-Agros Managing Director K. Ramulu and others.
Speaking during his visit to Shaktiman Udyog in Rajkot, where many machines used in agriculture are manufactured with indigenous technology, the Minister said that there is a severe shortage of farm laborers in Telangana, with most of the farm laborers becoming farmers themselves. .
The minister said that farmers from 11 states, especially Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Odisha migrate to Telangana during the farming season and get livelihood in agriculture and allied sectors. He said that the agricultural machines made abroad were useful only for their circumstances, where they have large holdings.
Shri Reddy said that during the last eight years about 80 lakh acres of land has been cultivated with the increase in irrigation facilities and other pro-farmer measures. Keeping in view the circumstances of diversification of crops, the state government is planning for agricultural mechanization on a large scale. He also invited the management of Shaktimaan to set up their unit in Telangana.
During a visit to the groundnut processing unit in Gondal, he said that the Telangana government would also encourage such units as the quantity of groundnut is increasing in the state.