Govt keen to make AP cocoa hub: Minister Atchannaidu

Eluru: Agriculture Minister Kinjarapu Atchannaidu said that the government is working to make the State a horticulture and cocoa hub. On Friday, he inaugurated State-level cocoa conclave here by lighting the lamp.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said that Andhra Pradesh is ranked first in the country in cocoa production. The main objective of the State-level cocoa conclave is to create awareness among cocoa farmers with officials and horticultural scientists on low-cost quality cocoa production, techniques to be adopted in cultivation, marketing facilities, etc to encourage farmers to increase cocoa cultivation in more areas.

He said that the government is working towards identifying every problem of the farmers in advance and solving them. Horticultural crops are being promoted to provide good income to the farmers in the State, and drip, sprinklers and automationare being provided to the horticultural farmers. He said an international level Horticulture Conclave will be organised in Vijayawada soon and steps will be taken for the development of horticultural crops.

Minister Atchannaidu said the State government has established a food processing society and is giving top priority to the establishment of food processing units. Although the previous government allocated Rs 7,500 crore for the market intervention scheme, only Rs 1,300 crore were provided to farmers in five years, he said, pointing out that his government allocated Rs 300 crore in the last budget and provided Rs 1,200 crore to farmers for the market intervention scheme during the year.

The Minister stated that farmers are being made aware of quality cocoa production in the state and are being informed about the steps to be taken to ensure that the quality of cocoa beans does not deteriorate after harvesting. Due to this, cocoa crop gets a good price.

The government’s aim is to cultivate cocoa crops at low cost, with high yields of quality crops and profitability for the farmers, he said. Scientists will raise awareness among farmers at Cocoa Conclave, and will discuss quality cocoa production, establishment of food processing units, cooperation between the government and bankers, and other issues, he informed.

District Collector K Vetriselvi said that Eluru district ranked first in the country with 44,984 acres of cocoa cultivated in the district and 10,000 metric tons of crop production.

MLAs Badeti Radhakrishnaiah (Chanti) (Eluru), Chintamaneni Prabhakar (Denduluru), Songa Roshan Kumar (Chintalapudi) and Pathsamatla Dharmaraju (Ungutur) also spoke. The event was attended by Horticulture Commissioner K Srinivasulu, Eluru Horticulture Officer Saja Nayak, District Agriculture Officer Habib Bhasha, IDA Chairman Peddiboyina Sivaprasad, Eluru Market Committee Chairman Mamillapalli Parthasarathy, Eluru RDO Achyut Ambareesh, and others.