Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu addressed Prof. The 7th MS Swaminathan Award was presented to V. Praveen Rao, Vice Chancellor of Jaishankar Telangana State Agricultural University.
Mr Rao was selected for the award for 2017-19 under ‘Agriculture Research, Teaching, Extension and Governance’ for his contribution to the world’s largest micro irrigation projects covering an area of 0.9 million hectares.
The biennial award was instituted by the retired ICAR-Indian Association of Agricultural Research Employees (RICAREA) and Nuzivedu Seeds Limited. It carried a prize of ₹ 2 lakh and a citation.
Appreciating Mr. Rao for taking the lead for farming communities, Mr. Naidu said that more scientists and policy makers should come up with similar efforts to help small and marginal farmers.
He said that sustainable income for the farmers would be possible if allied sectors of agriculture like dairy, fisheries, horticulture etc. He said that through the right policies, farmers should be encouraged to grow demand crops instead of available crops in large quantities.
Agriculture Minister S. Niranjan Reddy participated.
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