After the Centre made it clear that it would not procure parboiled rice in the forthcoming Rabi season, the Telangana government asked the farmers not to cultivate paddy in the Rabi season.
The government has also decided not to allow paddy from other states to land at the procurement centers in the state and directed district collectors and superintendents of police to prevent vehicles carrying paddy from entering into the state.
After Telangana, it is now the turn of Andhra Pradesh to persuade its farmers to abandon paddy during the Rabi season in favor of alternate crops such as millets.
While urging farmers to shun growing paddy in borewells, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed officials to form a Millets Board and enable the creation of processing units to stimulate millet production in the state.
The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister's directive follows Telangana counterpart K Chandrashekar Rao's directive to farmers not to plant paddy during the Rabi season.
The Telangana government launched a campaign for alternative crops during Rabi season in response to the Union Government's refusal to acquire parboiled rice.
Millet Cultivation Should Be Encouraged
Taking a signal, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister has directed the Agriculture Department to begin a campaign urging farmers to switch to other crops during the Rabi season.
He urged Agriculture Department officials to educate farmers about the need of reducing paddy area.
He remarked during a review meeting in Amaravati on Tuesday that farmers should be given incentives to grow millets. "We must incentivize farmers to use organic and natural farming practices," he says.
The state had previously planned to expand the paddy area by 1 lakh hectares to 8.50 lakh hectares from the current area of 7.50 lakh ha. Farmers, on the other hand, only planted 51,000 ha so far, compared to a total sown area of 94,000 ha.
