Telangana Finance Minister T Harish Rao today said that the Rythu Vedikas in the state had been set up to provide various kinds of support to the agrarian community.
Speaking after participating in some developmental programs at Ponnala village and other areas near it, in Siddipet district, the minister addressed the locals, and urged the farmers in the region to take up the cultivation of oil palm crops in a big way.
"The government will offer its help and support for the production of palm oil. We are pushing the cultivation of oil palm crops in a big way as this will be beneficial to farmers," he added.
(The Telangana government has been urging the farmers in the state to take up oil palm farming for some time now. Recently, Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy too had encouraged them to
grow oil palm crops. Explaining why the TRS government was pushing cultivators to do so, the minister had said that India was using 25 million tonnes of oil palm out of which only 10 million tonnes was being produced domestically, forcing the country to spend a lot of money on importing the rest.
"India is spending huge funds - nearly Rs 90,000 crore - because of the shortage in domestic output. We want Telangana to fill this shortage. Our government believes this will strengthen our farmers economically," Reddy had asserted.)
Talking about the ongoing Pattana Pragathi, Palle Pragathi and Haritha Haram programs after inspecting a nursery in the district, Rao said, "Our government has launched several programs meant to aid rural development, and to promote the creation of a clean and green environment in the state."
"We will provide all the basic amenities and services to the people through our innovative programs. For our farmers, we will support them through the Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bima schemes. We are already providing 24-hour power to help them. Further, we have several measures to support livestock rearers as well. Officials of the agriculture department should now educate and train the farming community on the latest agricultural techniques. To clean up our cities and villages, we must also work to slowly reduce plastic use. Establishing steel banks will help in achieving this goal," he added.