CS Somesh Kumar prods officials to boost GSDP in agri, AH sectors

Hyderabad: The State Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar on Monday emphasised the need to bring in policy changes that would help in more prosperity, and higher growth, create more jobs, and rope in private investments in the agriculture and allied sectors.

A meeting on various initiatives to increase the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) in Agriculture and Animal Husbandry sectors was held here. Around 30 higher officials from various departments participated in the deliberations and gave valuable inputs during the meeting.

The Chief Secretary said there is a need to improve the efficiency in the functioning of the departments which would result in a change in the perception among the public. Somesh Kumar stated that the departments should have a clear focus on what changes are necessary to bring in a paradigm shift in the approach towards achieving higher productivity with the involvement of all stakeholders. He noted that the agriculture and animal husbandry sectors have a huge potential for growth in the State.

Secretary Agriculture Raghunandan Rao in his presentation on the growth of agriculture said that farmers in the state have immensely benefitted from the policies in the agriculture sector such as assured irrigation, power, procurement, input supply, and investment support which has resulted in crop area increasing by 64% during the last eight years.

"Promoting productivity of field crops, promoting horticulture, improved post-harvest handling, farm mechanization, agricultural research, and extension are some of the strategies to accelerate growth in the agriculture sector," he pointed out.

DGP Mahender Reddy observed that there should be a focus on synergy and convergence between various departments to achieve prosperity, more productivity, and high growth in the agriculture and animal husbandry sectors. Special Chief Secretaries Adhar Sinha, Shanthi Kumari, Arvind Kumar, Ramakrishna Rao, Rani Kumudini, Principal Secretaries, Secretaries, TSPSC Chairman Janardhan Reddy, and other senior officials attended the meeting.