Government giving top priority to farming: CM

HYDERABAD: Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Friday said that the state government is giving utmost priority to agriculture and other allied activities such as poultry, dairy farm, fisheries, horticulture, animal husbandry and sericulture.This will ensure youth not migrating to urban areas in search of livelihood and also provide income through development of these sectors. He said the government has hiked the budget of agriculture by 67 percent, horticulture by 75 percent, fisheries by more than 1,100 percent and dairy sector by 150 percent.The chief minister along with the Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar inaugurated the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) regional office building at Rajendranagar here on Friday.Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister requested the Planning Commission to extend support to the state government for taking up construction of cold storage units, godowns, food processing units and others.He said more than 20 lakh fishermen in the state, who eke out their livelihood in the high seas are dependent on the mercy of the nature. As such the Centre and the state governments were taking steps to ensure that they get sustainable income even during natural disasters like floods and earthquakes. The state government is providing Rs 20,000 to the fishermen for construction of houses on par with SCs and STs.Kiran Reddy appealed to Sharad Pawar to set up an aquarium as per international standards in the city which will attract tourists. The Union minister responded favourably to the chief minster’s request.Pawar said the country has achieved self- sufficiency in agriculture and now we are exporting foodgrains to various countries.Similar efforts are also required in the field of fisheries, he observed. The National Fisheries Development Board will strive to increase the share of fisheries exports in the world market, the minister added. Animal husbandry minister Viswaroop spoke about the measures taken up by the government for development of fisheries sector.