Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has instructed officials to take steps to ensure that 3 crops are grown in 365 days and suggested that irrigation should be provided in advance to avoid the threat of cyclones and the Kharif crop plan should be implemented properly. He opined that widening of the ridges of paddy fields and intercropping with NREGA funds would bring high profits.
CM Chandrababu held a high-level review with the officials of the Agriculture Department at his Undavalli residence and suggested that a 3-crop system should be introduced to ensure that the cultivated lands remain green throughout the year. He said that summer crops should be grown in 5 lakh acres in the North Coast, Godavari and Krishna Delta areas in the summer of next year.
In districts like Anantapur, he said that crops are cultivated for only 4 months out of 365 days and the lands are left empty for 8 months, which is damaging the soil fertility. So, he suggested that conditions should be created to cultivate some kind of crop in the remaining 8 months as well. Farmers should be encouraged to grow varieties that are in high demand in rice, he added.
Chandrababu advised that the system of growing vegetables and fruit plants on ridges as intercrops should be implemented experimentally to further increase the income of rice farmers. Aquaculture and horticulture should also be tried in the middle of or around the rice crop.
He cautioned that the cyclones that come in October mostly caused damage to the North Coast and East Godavari districts and wanted to bring forward the harvest season to protect the Kharif crops from the cyclones. The officials brought to the attention of the CM that water has already been released through canals to the lands in West Godavari, Eluru, Konaseema, East Godavari, Kakinada and Krishna districts.
He said that plans have been prepared to provide water to Guntur, Bapatla and Prakasam districts in the first week of July. Officials said that while the state mainly cultivates paddy, sorghum, groundnuts and cotton during the Kharif season, the cultivation of groundnuts and cotton is decreasing.
While the cultivation of sorghum has increased, they said that the cultivation of rice is continuing steadily. On the other hand, it was revealed that 3 new services have been made available through WhatsApp Governance Mana Mitra.
