AP appoints Palekar as advisor on organic farming
- Published By: Tech Team
- June 14, 2017 / 02:50 AM IST
Palekar, appointed as Advisor to GoAP, agrees to make agriculture more profitable in Andhra Pradesh
100 acres of land allotted for setting up of University exclusively for Organic Farming
With an aim to make agriculture more profitable, reduce input cost and to encourage and promote healthy and Organic Farming, Chief Minister Shri N. Chandrababu Naidu met agriculturist and inventor of Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) Shri Subhash Palekar at his residence in Undavalli today. He has been officially appointed as Advisor to the State Government, responsible for formulating policies and creating a framework to foster Organic Farming in Andhra Pradesh.
The Chief Minister also requested Shri Subhash Palekar to help build a university in Amaravati exclusively for Organic Farming. For this purpose, the State government has agreed to allot 100 acres of land and Rs. 100 crores as investment. Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that he will strive to make Andhra Pradesh 100% organic in the coming years and eliminate use of harmful chemicals and fertilizers in crop production.
Last year, Subhash Palekar had organized a training programme for thousands of farmers from all over the State on ‘Natural Farming and Making Agriculture more Profitable by Reducing the Input Costs’. The State Government aims to train 10 lakh farmers in the coming 3 years and is devising necessary plans to achieve it.
To enhance farmers’ welfare, the government of Andhra Pradesh has initiated Zero-Budget Natural Farming during last year’s Kharif Season. This initiative covered a total of 5 lakh farmers and 5 lakh hectares in 2,000 villages and 50% mandals of the State spread across all the districts and all agro-climatic zones.
Another 260 clusters have been identified for initiating the work from Kharif 2017. 1,80,000 farmers are expected to be on board this year.
The Chief Minister has also told the officials that natural products of Andhra Pradesh should be branded and sold, and the farmers should be provided with fair market access.
The Chief Minister told Palekar that every home in Andhra Pradesh will be provided internet through the establishment of the Fiber Grid Project. Once this technology is in place, he requested Palekar to conduct video conferences as a platform for knowledge-sharing.
The Chief Minister responded positively to Palekar’s suggestion to set up a bio-gas plant in every village in the state. The CM suggested that solar power can be used to provide electricity during the daytime and bio-gas, during the night time.
