No Malthusian Crisis In AP

Principal Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, V Nagi Reddy on Saturday ruled out any fears of the "Malthusian Crisis" hitting the state, and said that the growth in the farming sector is being hampered by a lack of capital.

Addressing the gathering at conference on Indian agriculture organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, with the subject "Are We Heading For A Malthusian Crisis" at a star hotel on Saturday, Reddy said that Andhra Pradesh has no problems as far as land, labour and entrepreneurship are concerned, but "capital is the biggest limiting factor".

The Principal Secretary pointed out that the state has the elbow room for creating space for greater agriculture production.

"Though the Malthusian Crisis is looming on the world scenario, as far as Andhra Pradesh is concerned, we still have some land which can be used for agriculture production," he said.

Reddy also expressed his concern about contract farming, which could not make headway in Andhra Pradesh even though there were excellent prospects for it.

The bureaucrat also opined that entrepreneurs from Andhra Pradesh should go abroad to deal with the larger food security issues in the world, and not with the perspective to feed India.

"Our people are quite capable of producing more than what we require," he said.

Talking about the oil palm production, Nagi Reddy pointed out that Andhra Pradesh is number one in oil palm, and that the yields are best in the world. "Currently 1.25 lakh hectares are under oil palm cultivation, and there is scope for further increasing the area for palm oil cultivation, and hence oil palm imports can be reduced by a considerable level," he said.

Courtesy: INN