New agriculture legislations will benefit farmers: Telangana Governor

Hyderabad, Sept 30: Governor Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan stated that the new agricultural legislations enacted by the Central government will immensely benefit the farming community.

Expressing concern that farmers are still poverty-stricken, the Governor hoped that the new legislations will economically empower the farmers and make agriculture profitable.

The Governor convened a webinar on “Agricultural Legislations and Impact on Farmers” with experts and those working in agriculture related wings on Wednesday.  

She said that the farming in India was in distress and the farmers were facing a plethora of challenges like exploitation by middlemen, climatic conditions, low price for their produce, and limited options to sell their produce.

“The three historic legislations will go a long way in empowering the farmers by promoting greater marketing options, remunerative price for their produce, technology to explore national and international markets, and safeguards to farmers in contractual farming,” Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan added.

The Governor called for the creation of greater awareness among the farmers to clear their apprehensions about the Minimum Support Price and Procurement continuation by the government.

“The Central government has made it very clear that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and Procurement will continue as usual and there is no discontinuation as being propagated by some sections,” the Governor added.

As the farming might become more remunerative with the recent reforms brought by the government, Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan said that the younger generation would also get motivated to take up farming as a serious profession.
She stated that even during the lockdown also, the farmers continued to toil to produce food for us and added that agriculture is the lifeline of our nation.

The panellists include Y K Rao (NABARD), Dr Maheshwari of Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), Ch. Srinivasa Rao of the National Academy of Agricultural Research, Dr. Radhika Rani of National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj,  and Dr. Anil Kumar and Dr Laxmi of Directorate of Marketing and Inspections.

The panellists termed the agriculture reforms as historic and landmark and expressed confidence that the reforms would empower the farmer and transform the agriculture into a profitable and vibrant activity.