Nine seed storage warehouses to be set up across Tamil Nadu at ₹11.64 crore, Agriculture Minister tells Assembly

Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister R. Vinoth on Monday announced a slew of measures in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on August 31, including the establishment of nine seed storage warehouses in seven districts at a cost of ₹11.64 crore.

The warehouses will come up at Kaattuthottam and Pattukkottai in Thanjavur district, Nagamangalam in Mayiladuthurai, Vellalaviduthi in Pudukkottai, Papparapatti in Dharmapuri, Danishpet in Salem, Madathukulam in Tiruppur, and Kanchikudigadu and Keerandhi in Tiruvarur. The facilities are intended to preserve the quality, germination capacity and vigour of seeds procured from farmers.

The Minister also announced four new Sub-Agricultural Extension Centre buildings with seed storage facilities at Enkan in Tiruvarur, Indur in Dharmapuri, Neelakandarayapettai in Ranipet and Karumandampalayam in Erode at a cost of ₹2.85 crore. The centres are intended to enable farmers to access quality agricultural inputs closer to their villages.

Several of the announcements focused on upgrading infrastructure and machinery in cooperative sugar mills. Modern Swing-type Fibrizor Units with Motors will be installed at the Kallakurichi-1 and Tiruthani cooperative sugar mills at a total cost of ₹8.58 crore. The units, with an extraction efficiency of more than 85%, are expected to improve sugar recovery and reduce sugar losses.

The State will also provide 28,500 beekeeping boxes and 2,850 honey extraction equipment units to farmers at a cost of ₹6.84 crore, with the objective of promoting beekeeping as an additional source of income and improving pollination and crop yields.

For farmer producer organisations (FPOs), ₹50 lakh will be provided as a 50% subsidy, capped at ₹10 lakh per vehicle, to enable five FPOs to purchase refrigerated cargo vehicles. The measure is intended to help them transport aggregated produce to markets at the appropriate time and reduce dependence on intermediaries.

Another ₹10 lakh will be provided to 100 FPOs as a back-ended subsidy for purchasing electronic moisture meters to assess the moisture content of agricultural produce before marketing.

The Minister said the State will also seek GI tags for 10 agricultural products, including Kancheepuram Pari Milagai, Chidambaram Black Gram, Tiruvaiyaru Leaf Banana, Cuddalore Vetiver, Manapparai Brinjal, Ooty Garlic and Jawadhu sesame, with ₹30 lakh earmarked for the exercise.