Telangana to set up CoE for horticultural crops

The Telangana Government will set up an exclusive Centre of Excellence (CoE) to promote modern methods in the cultivation of horticultural crops in the State.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has announced allocation of 300 acres for the CoE at the Prof. Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) campus.

“We need to evolve a policy for horticultural crops factoring in the local soils and climatic conditions. There is a need to develop research and development to expand the scope of horticultural crops,” he said.

For decades, the Government had ignored horticultural crops, including fruits and vegetable crops. “Vegetable crops don’t require much water. But the government failed to promote these crops in the undivided Andhra Pradesh,” he said.

“After the formation of Telangana, we focused on developing irrigation facilities. As a result, we now have plenty water. We should encourage farmers to go for horticultural crops,” he said.

There was a huge demand for vegetables and fruits in the State. The officials should identify farmers around the urban areas and encourage them to grow vegetables in order to meet the demand from urban consumers.

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