Telangana farm policies are role models for country: Vadde

Hyderabad: Former Andhra Pradesh Agriculture Minister Vadde Sobhanadreeswara Rao has appreciated the agriculture policies of the State government.

After meeting Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy here on Sunday, he stressed that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao should lead the agriculture ministers of other States and mount pressure on the Centre for farmer-friendly agriculture policies.

He described the pro-farmer agriculture policies of the CM a role model for the country. Rao stressed the need for crop diversification from paddy to pulses and oilseeds cultivation.

"Encouraging farmers in Telangana to cultivate oil palm is a welcome sign", he added. Vadde said encouragement should be given to cultivation of cereals, pulses and oilseeds like the way cultivation of pulses and oilseeds was given a boost between 1985-1989. Besides, encouraging production of ethanol, the former agriculture minister emphasised the need to facilitate and boost exports.

"That apart, women and farmers" cooperative production societies should be established along with small and medium scale industries to create value addition to the agriculture produce".

He said 'faulty' policies of the Centre in deciding the minimum support price (MSP) caused injustice to farmers. He said "MSP should be provided statutory guarantee as per the formula recommended by the Swaminathan Commission."

Rao said the agricultural policies of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) provide higher prices for developed nations, at the same time, depriving farmers of developing nations of their due.

"To fight such discriminatory practices of WTO, he said, the CM should take a leading role with the agriculture ministers of other States to mount pressure on the Centre to fight the discriminatory WTO agriculture policies."

Vadde charged that the discriminatory policies have been imposing restrictions on developed nations not to provide MSP, not to purchase MSP-supported agriculture products and desist from providing subsidies to farmers belonging to developing nations, like India.

"Further", he said, "it is unfortunate that the Centre has been bringing pro-corporate agriculture policies detrimental to farmers, instead of fighting on international fora in favor of farmers.

He said his health and time are not helping him to meet the CM in person. Rao asked Niranjan Reddy to take the issues to KCR's notice.