Pawar assures aid for maize farming

Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has assured the state that more funds will be provided in the 12th plan to encourage maize cultivation in the state and research on the crop.

In a letter to state agriculture minister Kanna Lakshminarayana on Saturday in response to a recent memorandum submitted to him in Delhi, Pawar assured the state of central government’s support to the programme to encourage maize cultivation.

The Indian Council for Agriculture Research would develop the research centres situated at Hyderabad and Karimnagar, Pawar said.

Laskshminaryana had already written a letter to ICAR director-general S. Ayappam and, in the report submitted to the Union agriculture ministry, explained that maize was being cultivated in 8.5 lakh hectares in both Kharif and Rabi seasons.