Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (JD)

Udupi, Jun 26: "Every year the district faces a shortage of MO4 seeds for paddy cultivation, but from 2022 year there will be no shortage of seed," said agriculture minister B C Patil.

He addressed a gathering after presiding over the progress review meeting of the district agriculture department at the zilla panchayat hall on Saturday June 26.

Farming on fallow land is in progress in Udupi making it a model programme for the entire state. The minister said that measures would be taken to supply the bulk of the required MO4 seed to the district so that agricultural activities could be conducted easily.

The minister also instructed the officials to expedite farmers' insurance payments in the district and to prioritise automation agriculture as there is a problem of agricultural workers in the district. He instructed service centres to operate so as to enable the farmers to avail low-cost machine service.

Officials of the Indian Kisan Association appealed to the minister on the demands of the Brahmavar sugar factory, including the establishment of cold storage for the storage of fruit and vegetable crops, the promotion of paddy crops and the prevention of wild animals for agricultural activities in the district.

B C Patel said that a one-day programme with the farmers used to be organised, but due to Covid this was discontinued.

Udupi MLA Raghupathi Bhat, Kaup MLA Lalaji R Mendan, Kundapur MLA Haladi Srinivasa Shetty, Coastal Development Authority chairman Mattaru Ratnakar Hegde and zilla panchayat CEO Dr Naveen Bhatt, ADC Sadashiva Prabhu, joint director of Agriculture Department Kempegowda, representatives of various agrarian organizations in the district and officials of the agriculture department were present.