PNS|Hyderabad
A meeting on various initiatives to enhance the Gross State Domestic Product in the agriculture and animal husbandry sector was held at the BRKR Bhavan on Monday.
Around 30 high officials from various departments participated in the talks and gave valuable inputs during the meeting.
Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar emphasized the need to bring in policy changes which would help higher growth, create more jobs and rope in private investments in agriculture and allied sectors. He said there is a need to improve efficiency in the functioning of departments which would result in a change in public perception. He said that departments should have a clear focus on what changes are necessary to bring in a paradigm shift in the approach towards achieving higher productivity.
He noted that agriculture and animal husbandry has a huge potential for growth in the state. Agriculture Secretary Raghunandan Rao in his presentation on the growth of agriculture in the state said that farmers have immensely benefitted from policies in the agriculture sector such as irrigation, power, procurement, input supply and investment support which has resulted in crop area increasing 64 per cent in the last eight years.
Promoting productivity of field crops, promoting horticulture, improved post-harvest handling, farm mechanization, agricultural research and extension are some of the strategies to accelerate growth in the agriculture sector, he said.
DGP Mahender Reddy said there should be focus on synergy and convergence between various departments to achieve more productivity and higher growth in agriculture and animal husbandry.
Special Chief Secretaries Adhar Sinha, Shanthi Kumari, Arvind Kumar, Ramakrishna Rao, Rani Kumudini, Principal Secretaries, Secretaries, TSPSC Chairman Janardhan Reddy and other officials attended the meeting.
