Value addition needed to increase agricultural income; VP

: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu today stressed the need to adopt a multi-pronged strategy to make agriculture viable and profitable and said farm income must be supplemented by non-farm occupations and value addition through food processing.

He was addressing scientists, farm experts and farmers at the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA) here today.

Observing that agriculture is the backbone of the economy, the Vice President said that unless this sector performed well consistently, the trajectory of the country's progress would not be smooth.

"Allied services like fisheries, poultry, horticulture, food processing and packaging need to promoted to improve farmers' income.

The need of the hour is to make agriculture profitable and sustainable with consistent increase in its growth rate," an official release quoted the Vice President as having said.

The Vice President stressed the need to address the agrarian crisis in a systematic way so that farmers become prosperous.

He further said that creating awareness among farmers on traditional and modern methods of water conservation would help in effective water budgeting for agricultural activities.

Highlighting the need to have homegrown food security, Naidu said that no country which was dependent on others for its food security has been successful.

The Vice President suggested some measures to double the farmers' income in Telangana and adjoining areas in a sustained manner.

Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana, Mohammad Mahmood Ali and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.