Hyderabad: Mr Tummala Nageswara Rao, Hon’ble Minister for Agriculture, Marketing, Cooperation, Handlooms & Textiles, Government of Telangana Inaugurated the 4th Edition of CII AGRI TECH South 2024 and AGRI VISION 2024 at the PJTSAU, Hyderabad. During his address, he urged CII to organize similar Exhibitions and Conferences at various Districts, Mandals, and Raithu Vedikas, emphasizing the importance of reaching out to farmers directly. He expressed his concern that despite the establishment of universities and colleges for agricultural technology and innovation, true satisfaction can only be achieved when farmers effectively utilize these advancements and experience improved outcomes. The Minister stressed that the progress of the state hinges on the happiness and prosperity of its farmers, underscoring the need for innovations and technologies to directly benefit them.
Government’s strong focus on agriculture- Raghunandan Rao, IAS
Mr M Raghunandan Rao, IAS., APC & Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Government of Telangana emphasized the government’s strong focus on agriculture and farmers. He highlighted the initiatives being undertaken, including the establishment of audio-visual facilities at different administrative levels such as District Agriculture Offices, Mandal offices, and Raithu Vedikas.
White Paper on Revolutionizing Telangana’s Agriculture
The CII Telangana – EY White Paper on Revolutionizing Telangana’s Agriculture : A Digital Approach was released at the AgriVision Conference. The white paper explores how Artificial Intelligence (AI), remote sensing, robotics, and various digital tools can profoundly reshape agriculture in Telangana. The focus isn’t merely on adopting technology arbitrarily but on utilizing its capabilities to establish a sustainable, productive, and resilient agricultural environment.
In Welcome speech,Mr C Shekar Reddy, Chairman, CII Telangana & CMD, CSR Estates urged the government that,
1. Agriculture Budget: Exclusive budget and consistent funding for agriculture and setting up of an independent agriculture committee that oversees program implementation and inter-department coordination.
2. Agri-Cluster Development Approach: The key issue faced is the viability and scalability factor in the food and agribusiness sector, which in turn is linked to the absence of efficient agrifood supply chain mechanics effectively integrating backward and seamlessly forward linkages. In this regard, there is a need for an Agri-cluster Development Approach based on production strengths of various agroclimatic regions and land management units. The government of Telangana has develop and implement a Comprehensive Value Chain Development Strategy for each Agri-Cluster. The identified Agri-Clusters will have to receive due support for developing required agri-infrastructure facilities along the value chain to attract investment and thereby generating off-farm jobs for rural people.
3. Diversification of the production basket: Identifying horticulture (fruits & vegetables) and oilseeds (oil palm, groundnut & sesame) as key subsectors to enhance farmers income. For this, “Telangana State Horticulture Mission (TSHM)” and “Telangana State Oilseeds Mission (TSOM): may be formed to implement National Horticulture Mission and Oilseeds Mission in the state to adopt ened to end approach with simultaneous development of post-harvest infrastructure and marketing facilities potential districts suitable for these crops. Further, incentivising non-paddy crops (pulses, oilseeds, maize, and horticultural crops) under the state plan, seed policy for non-paddy crops, assured procurement for pulses and oilseeds and millets under the price support scheme (PSS).
4. FPOs Policy: Launching the Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) Policy for linking all farmers, mainly ones sowing high value crops like fruits, vegetables, flowers, spices, etc., to the markets
List of Noted Speakers
Notable speakers at the Conference included Dr Ronnie Coffman, International Professor (Emeritus), Plant Breeding & Genetics, School of Integrative Plant Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, USA; Prof Ginige Athula, Professor – Computing & ICT, Western Sydney University; Agricultural University (PJTSAU); Dr B Gopi, IAS., Director – Agriculture, Government of Telangana; Mr K Ashok Reddy, IAS Director of Horticulture Govt. of Telangana; Dr V Praveen Rao, Chairman, Steering Committee of CII AgriTech South 2024 & Former Vice Chancellor – Prof. Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU); Mr Anil Kumar V Epur, Past Chairman, CII Southern Region
