Mysuru: Agricultural sector can be made profitable by using modern technology, said Agriculture Minister N. Cheluvarayaswamy, here yesterday. He was speaking after inaugurating Raitha Dasara-2024 at MMC&RI Platinum Jubilee Auditorium at J.K. Grounds.

Stating that sustainable growth in agriculture was possible to help farmers lead a comfortable life, he said: “Apart from agriculture, modern technologies should also be implemented in horticulture, pisciculture (fish farming) and animal husbandry for farmers to make good profits. They must also ensure to take proper guidance from progressive farmers to achieve good results.”

Taking a dig at the opposition parties, Cheluvarayaswamy said that the overwhelming rainfall in the State had silenced opposition parties who had stated that ‘the State would not receive rainfall on Siddaramaiah becoming the Chief Minister.’

“Farmers are the backbone of the country and measures have been taken for development of Agriculture on which the farmers depend. Around 99 percent of funds allocated in Budget has been utilised apart from distributing agriculture machineries worth Rs. 1,000 crore to farmers. The subsidies to farmers are being directly credited to their bank accounts through Farmer Registration and Unified Beneficiary Information System (FRUITS)  avoiding the middlemen menace,” he added.

On the occasion, the following persons were felicitated:

Agriculture: H.B. Jagadish (Hadya), Vishwanath (Gopalapura), B.A. Prakash (P. Basavanahalli); Horticulture: Shivanna (Nuggahalli), S. Lingaraje Urs (Kollegal), S. Manjunath (Siddaiahnahundi); Animal Husbandry: Suhas Sridhar (Devanur), S.D. Mahadev (Naviluru) and Manjula (Bommanayakanahalli); Sericulture: Ramesh (Vijayapura), B.R. Mahadev (Attiguppe) and K.C. Vijaykumar (K.R. Nagar).

Minister for Sericulture and Animal Husbandry K. Venkatesh, MLAs K. Harishgowda, Rameshbabu Bandisiddegowa, State Guarantee Schemes Implementation Authority Vice-Chairperson Dr. Pushpa Amarnath, Raitha Dasara Sub-Committee President Karigowda and others were present.

Earlier, a jatha was also taken out to create awareness about agriculture from Kote Anjaneyaswamy Temple to J.K. Grounds. The jatha was flagged off by Ministers N. Cheluvarayaswamy and K. Venkatesh.

Along with tableaux of Forest and Horticulture Departments, nandi dwaja, nagari, tamate, veeraghase, veerabhadra kunita, chilipili gombe, puja kunita, nadaswara and Tibetan artistes added glitter to the procession.

The jatha also created awareness on various agriculture equipment such as drone-2, sugarcane harvesting machine, sugarcane planting machine, combine harvester among others.

The Agriculture Exhibition at the J.K. Ground also displayed rare varieties of animal breeds such as Bandur sheep, Hallikar cow, Ongole cow, Gir cow and Punganur cow and others.