Chemical-free food essential for good health: Govt Whip

Kuppam (chittoor district): Government Whip and MLC Dr Kancherla Srikanth and APSRTC Vice Chairman PS Munirathnam said that good health in society can be achieved only through chemical-free food. Speaking at a ‘Business Networking Event’ organised in Kuppam by the Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sadhikara Samstha to create coordination between natural farming product sellers and buyers. The chief guests visited stalls set up by officials displaying natural farming products and samples. They interacted with farmers and enquired about production, processing, and marketing methods.

Dr Srikanth expressed concern over the increasing use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers, stating that food grown with excessive chemicals is leading to serious diseases like cancer. Natural farming is the only way to prevent such health problems. The networking platform was arranged with the support of Rythu Sadhikara Samstha Chairman Vijay Kumar to ensure fair prices for natural farming farmers in Kuppam constituency.

Munirathnam said farmers should not remain only cultivators but should grow as entrepreneurs by processing and directly selling their products to consumers.

He called for achieving the goal of making Kuppam an organic region as envisioned by the Chief Minister.

The speakers also stated that under the Central Government’s National Mission on Natural Farming in agriculture (NMNF) scheme, natural farming is expanding across the country.

As part of this, Andhra Pradesh has been allotted 5,000 clusters and more than 4,000 bio-input resource centres.

Kuppam Agriculture Marketing Chairman S Muniraju, KADA Chairman Dr Suresh Babu, Chittoor District DAO Murali, Rythu Nestham Foundation representative Y Venkateswara Rao, Senior Thematic Lead Chandrasekhar and EDP Pranay Bhargav also spoke at the event.