Minister Jagadish Reddy urges farmers to focus on dairy farming

Nalgonda: Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy on Tuesday urged the farmers to focus on dairy farming in addition to agriculture, which would help in improving their earnings.

Attending a review meeting on the orientation programme for Gopala Mithras held in Udhayaditya Bhavan on the premises of the district Collectorate, Jagadish Reddy said that milk and dairy products were rich nutrition foods. Like agriculture, its allied sector dairy farming was also not developed in Telangana due to the attitude of the earlier governments during united Andhra Pradesh, he added.

He reminded that the TRS government has taken up special measures for bringing earlier glory to agriculture and its allied sectors after the formation of Telangana State. Shortage of milk was also giving scope for adulteration of milk by some persons to make money which in turn was showing an impact on the people’s health. He has underlined the need to improve milk production to meet the demand in the market.

“Though our State stood on top in agriculture, we are still depending on importing of vegetables and meat from other States. There is a need to focus on the dairy sector, vegetable farming and meat production. We cannot imagine agriculture without cattle,” he said. He asked the farmers to reduce the usage of chemical fertilizers and switch over to organic farming methods to bring a green revolution to the State.

He pointed out that multiple food products can be produced with milk that would financially benefit the farmers. There were 5,39,406 cattle in the district. Gopala Mithras should work to create awareness among the farmers on dairy farming. He reminded that Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has increased the minimum wages of lower-level outsourcing employees to Rs 8,500 per month. He has also assured to bring the demand of Gopala Mithras to make PRC applicable to them to the notice of the Chief Minister.

The district Collector Prashant Jeevan Patil said that the number of cattle can be improved through artificial insemination. The farmers should choose the cattle, which were suitable for our weather conditions.

District Central Cooperative Bank(DCCB)n Chairman Gongidi Mahender Reddy said that the Animal Husbandry Statistics Division should think about the possibility of providing insurance coverage to Gopala Mithras.

Nalgonda MLA Kancherla Bhupal Reddy and officials of the animal husbandry department also attended the meeting.