Comments
Experts from the agriculture sector, industry and Government have called for promotion of value addition in maize whose area is expanding, particularly in rabi, in the last few years.
Addressing a conference organised by FAPCCI (Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI) here on Wednesday, Mr V. Nagi Reddy, Principal Secretary (Agriculture, Government of Andhra Pradesh), has asked the industry to look into adding value.
“For one, one can manufacture corn flakes. We have access to raw material available at a very cheap rate. The industry should tap opportunities like these,” he said.
“Earlier, maize used to be mainly kharif crop in the State, with rabi contributing in a small way. Over a period of time, this has changed as farmers could get far higher yields in the rabi season. At present, it is evenly sown three lakh hectares each,” he said.
He released the report ‘Maize and maize based industries – opportunities in Andhra Pradesh' prepared by FAPCCI.
Dr B. Venkateswarlu, Director of Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), said now that farmers were preferring to sow maize in rabi season, the challenge was to improve productivity in the rain-fed areas.
“The new challenge in the form of climate challenge too needed to be tackled immediately,” he said.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.