HYDERABAD

Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao said six persons had been arrested for allegedly manufacturing fake/spurious DAP fertiliser and made it clear that the government would not spare anyone causing losses to farmers.

During a review meeting here on Thursday, he directed officials to assess the quantity of spurious DAP manufactured and sold in the State and identify farmers who had purchased and used it on their crops. He said steps should be taken to provide compensation to affected farmers from those responsible for manufacturing the spurious fertiliser.

In a virtual meeting with Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Mr. Rao requested the release of the second tranche of funds under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY). He also urged the Union Minister to procure the entire quantity of pulses produced in Telangana this season in view of El Niño conditions and include maize and other crops under the minimum support price (MSP) scheme to benefit farmers.

Representatives of a firm from Costa Rica into developing high-yielding and pest resistant varieties of oilpalm met the minister and explained about the short leaf/compact canopy varieties of oilpalm useful for the Indian conditions. They stated that it would grow to a short height and would be useful for mechanisation and resistant to ganoderma pest attack on the plantation.

The minister instructed the authorities to talk to the Hare Krishna Charitable Trust engaged in preparing breakfast and mid-day meals supplied to government schools to source vegetables from local farmers and use Vijaya brand oil made by Oilfed for cooking. He further told them to construct 65,000 tonnes capacity storage space in districts with high paddy cultivation.

He further instructed officials to register farmers cultivating the nine varieties of paddy recommended by the government.