Andhra Pradesh

ITDA to give a push to rubber cultivation in Rampachodavaram

GUNTUR: Tribals in Paderu and Rampachodavaram agency areas will cultivate coffee and rubber as part of a financial inclusion programme of the Union Commerce Ministry.

The Ministry, in co-ordination with the State Government, will take up cultivation of organic coffee in the tribal areas of Paderu.

The cultivation would be supported by the Integrated Tribal Development Agency and the coffee cultivated would be exported to France, Holland and Germany, Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh has said. The Ministry had set a target of exporting 300 metric tonnes of coffee in the next financial year, he said in Guntur.

The Minister also unveiled plans to augment the cultivation of rubber at Rampachodavaram with the coordination of the Rubber Board and I.T.D.A. A corpus fund of Rs.191 crore would be earmarked and cultivation would be taken up in 31,000 acres with a model of generating a profit of Rs.30,000 per acre to the cultivators.

The above programmes would benefit about 1.5 lakh tribals in Paderu and Rampachodavaram agency areas, he said.

The Minister was here on Thursday taking part in a slew of programmes, including laying the foundation stone for the Spices Park at Mydavolu village in Yadlapadu mandal.

Mr. Ramesh said that with funds from Tobacco Farmer Welfare Fund (with a corpus of Rs.15 crore), welfare activities in health, education spheres would be taken up. The pro-active steps initiated by the Tobacco Board helped in breaking the cartel and benefit tobacco farmers, he said. The price of tobacco touched the two-dollar mark, a watershed in the history of tobacco cultivation, he added.

He also said that export of spices had touched the $ 1 billion mark and the Central and State Governments had fixed a target of exporting spices worth $ 10 billion dollars by the year 2017.

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