India cannot depend on food imports, top priority for farming: Vice Prez

Metro India News | Musunuru 

Vice President CP Radhakrishnan on Monday said India, with a population of 140 crore, cannot rely on food imports and pledged top priority for agriculture.

Addressing a private seed launch event at Musunuru village, the Vice President said, “We are 140 crore people, we are not Australia. We have 70 times (the) population of Australia, so we cannot depend on imports for our food. The agriculture interests will be taken care of, agriculture will get top priority.”

According to the Vice President, new innovations and modern techniques adopted in the farming sector will make agriculture prosperous in the country.

Radhakrishnan expressed joy over Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s plan to interlink all South Indian rivers from the Mahanadi to Cauvery.

Backing Naidu's initiative to interlink southern rivers, he said, “it may take (a) little time, but it is going to be a reality very soon.”

He promised to extend irrigation facilities to all the districts, wishing for Indian agriculture to continue to innovate for the seed to be sown to become a stronger, more self-reliant and more developed India tomorrow. Meanwhile, Naidu said the NDA government at the Centre and the state view agriculture as an economic power and farmers as entrepreneurs.

“Our objective is to add value to the crops grown by farmers and export them. Turmeric, corn and chillies crops, including aquaculture produce should reach the world,” said Naidu. He called for processing the crops, adding value and branding those products for international markets for farmers to reap the benefit, and advised farmers to focus on food processing.

According to the CM, only 10 per cent of the state’s agricultural production is being processed, and higher the processing more the income. In places like Nuziveedu, he said commercial crops such as palm oil and cocoa are thriving, signalling a transition to horticulture from agriculture. He called for long-term crop planning for next 30 to 40 years, and detailed an action plan to transform Rayalaseema region into a horticulture hub.

He noted that Rayalaseema is being developed with an investment of Rs 1 lakh crore from both public and private sources. Further, the CM announced that 36 irrigation projects will be completed in the order of priority at a cost of Rs 35,000 crore. The CM noted that Godavari river water was diverted to the Krishna Delta to mitigate the El Nino impact, and said that completing the Chintalapudi project will transform the Eluru region.

The CM further said his government took the initiative to go for alternative crops due to the effects of El Nino and called on farmers to make use of this shift.

Naidu reaffirmed the government's commitment to inter-linking major rivers, including Godavari and Krishna and Tungabhadra, Penna and Cauvery, in the country for better utilisation of water resources. Earlier, Radhakrishnan and Naidu on Monday unveiled two non-GMO popcorn maize hybrid seeds in Eluru district. Accompanied by Governor S Abdul Nazeer and others, the leaders toured the plant of the private company associated with the launch in Musunur village. They inspected the popcorn-processing equipment and sampled the final product before the launch.