Melinda-Bill Gates Foundation will help to prosper the agriculture of Andhra Pradesh

Kurnool, October 10: Expressing concern towards the hardships faced by farmers’ Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu took the pledge of making the farmers’ prosperous by revolutionizing agriculture in collaboration with Melinda-Bill Gates Foundation. 

Addressing the people at Foundation for the Mega Seed Park at Tangadanche in Jupadu Bungalow Mandal, CM Naidu said that Microsoft founder Bill Gates will be visiting Visakhapatnam in November to write a code for the farmers. Asserting that he was a farmer first, Naidu said that the farmers need to be empowered with efficient and useful tools.

Further, he added “This place is poised to be a seed hub for the country and would become a byword for quality seeds in the world with more than 100 companies operating out of the facility. Spread over 623 acres and with an outlay of Rs 670 Crores and a technical collaboration with Iowa State University and Acharya NG Ranga Agriculture University, Naidu said that this would ‘revolutionize’ the way we know agriculture.”

He said that Tangadanche would be transformed into another SriCity where marquee Multi-National Companies line up to set shop. Some of the innovative and best practices would include setting up of Farmer Producers’ Organisations and Water Users’ Associations.

Various initiatives are being taken from seeds to cultivation practices to storage and post-production processes. He said that the Mega Seed Park would develop high quality, disease resistant and high yielding seeds to benefit not only farmers in AP but also other parts of India and Asia. It will have a centre for excellence and innovation.