Hyderabad: Vitamin and mineral-rich avocado and the world’s most favourite Alphonso mango fruits will be grown in Telangana soon. Pleasant weather conditions to grow the two most sought after fruits in Telangana will be a great advantage to promote fruticulture in the State. For this, State government is ready to develop plans.

Speaking at the launch of NABARD State Focus Paper on Friday, State Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka said that Maharashtra is known for Alphonso variety of mango cultivation and it emerged as a model in exports. As Telangana also has similar land and other resources, farmers will be encouraged to take up Alphonso mango cultivation. He noted that scientific form of cultivation was neglected in the State by those who ruled the State for ten years and it was time Agriculture Department and NABARD officials bestowed their attention on that. Encouragement will be given to crop cultivation through green house, poly house, drip, sprinklers.

The Deputy CM also said that through Forest Rights Act, cultivable lands were handed over to farmers in tribal areas and cultivations like palm oil, avocado, bamboo be encouraged in those lands. It will also help in protecting forest lands, he said.

Acknowledging that NABARD is a significant partner in promoting agriculture, Vikramarka said that it should provide more encouragement to the above sectors in the coming days. He instructed that more loan assistance be extended to farm sector besides strengthening farmers’ producers’ organisations and development of basic amenities in rural areas. The digital banking sector should be extended, he said.

There is possibility to bring in revolutionary changes in agriculture sector through water saving cultivation by using drip and sprinklers, he said. Despite severe heat conditions, impressive agricultural development was achieved in Israel, he pointed out.

To reduce dependability on import of edible oils, Bhatti said that a target was set for palm oil cultivation in about one lakh acres in the country. Malaysia leads the world in oil farm cultivation and he emphasised that oil palm cultivation should be strengthened in Telangana too. Telangana is famous for its mango, turmeric, chillie and millet crops. Thus NABARD should take up activities like encouraging the setting up of cold storages, training farmers as per international standards.