Telangana to promote groundnut as Rabi crop

Research station to come up at Veerayapalli in Wanaparthy district

The State government has decided to promote groundnut as a major Rabi (Yasangi) crop. A groundnut research station would be set up at Veerayapalli of Pedda Mandadi mandal in Wanaparthy district with the participation of International Crops Research Station for the Semi Arid Tropics and Prof. Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University.

This was stated by Minister for Agriculture S. Nirajan Reddy at a review meeting held here on Monday. The government had already allotted 40 acres land for the groundnut research station and ₹ 2 crore funds would be release for creation of basic infrastructure, he said.

He hoped that scientists would develop new groundnut varieties that would give high yield and withstand pest attacks in four years at the research station. He asked the authorities to promote groundnut in North Telangana too from its cultivation mostly in parts of South Telangana now by holding awareness meetings with farmers in Palem and Jagitial agircultural research stations.

The Minister suggested that the authorities train farmers in quality groundnut production by preparing a crop calender along with promotion of oil palm. To encourage farmers to take up groundnut cultivation on a large scale, the TS-Oilfed would also set up oil processing (extraction) mills. He stated that the combined Mahabubnagar district was known for quality and aflatoxin-free groundnut which has high demand overseas. Agriculture Secretary M. Raghunandan Rao, TS-Oilfed Chairman K. Ramakrishna Reddy, Managing Director M. Surender, Registrar of PJTSAU S. Sudheer Kumar, Director (Research) R. Jagadeeshwar, ICRISAT senior scientist Janila Pasupuleti and others participated.