Telangana Supplying Seeds To 13 Other States–Minister

Hyderabad, March 12 (Maxim News): Agriculture Minister S. Niranjan Reddy said state was suitable for the production of seeds and their storage. He said that 400 national and international companies had set up their units in the state and running processing plants in the state.

The minister made these remarks while responding to questions posed by ruling TRS party MLAs Dasari Manohar Reddy, Rasamai Balakrishna and Anjaiah Yadav in the State Assembly during question hour.

The Minister said that the processing companies were also processing and packing the seeds procured from other states in the state. He said that besides the Telangana state seed development corporation, other private companies were also playing an important role in the seed industry. The state agriculture university, national and international research institutes, state seed development corporation and seed certification corporation and agriculture department were part of the seed manufacturing process in the state. He said that 18 to 23 lakh quintals of seeds were being supplied by the Telangana state to 13 states of the country.

Reddy said that as against the requirement of 35 lakh tonnes of the seed the Telangana state was able to contribute 24 lakh tonnes of the seeds. He said that the state has 3 lakh seed production farmers and added that they were cultivating the seeds in 7 lakh acres of land. He said that 50 thousand skilled workers , 2 lakh unskilled workers and 50 thousand other workers were employed in the seed industry. Reddy said that the state has 6 lakh sq. feet capacity godowns, 20 million feet cold storage with 1000 metric tonne seed processing capacity. He said that 8,000 tonnes of ground nut seeds worth Rs. 200 crore were being supplied by undivided Mahbubnagar district.(Maxim News)