Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Saturday inaugurated a two-day mega agricultural exhibition and projects worth over ₹ 700 crore in Tiruvannamalai town.
Addressing farmers and agricultural experts at the farm exhibition here, Mr. Stalin said that the farm exhibition will help farmers to know more about advance technologies available in the farm sector. Apart from farm equipment, the exhibition will also help them to learn about a new variety of seeds, farming methods, marketing techniques, food processing methods, and crop insurance.
The expo also features interactive sessions between farmers and farm experts under 13 different topics., enriching farmers. “In the past five years, the Tamil Nadu government has released water from Mettur dam on time for irrigation, benefiting around 20 lakh farmers in the State,” he said.
The Chief Minister said that a separate annual budget for agriculture was introduced by the Dravidian model of governance in 2021, highlighting the importance given to the farm sector by the DMK regime. Since then, five agriculture budgets have allocated ₹ 1.94 lakh crore. In fact, the farm budget for 2024-25 has a budget allocation of ₹ 45,661 crore, which is 33% higher than the 2021-22 farm budget.
The Chief Minister said that Uzhavar Santhais (farmers’ markets) were given a facelift. In the past five years, 125 refurbished farmers’ markets and 14 new farmers’ markets were also opened in the State to help small farmers sell their produce directly to consumers.
In terms of crop damage, Mr. Stalin said that ₹ 631.76 crore has been compensated for 20.84 lakh farmers for crop damage of 32.81 lakh acre since 2021. During 2024-25, 5.66 lakh acres of farmland were damaged due to the northeast monsoon for which the Tamil Nadu government has released ₹ 289.63 crore as compensation for 3.60 lakh affected farmers in the State. He also added that assessment is being made for crop loss for the 2025 season.
The Chief Minister announced that the existing dilapidated rented building of the paddy procurement centre in Peranamallur village near Vandavasi will get a permanent building at a cost of ₹3 crore. The new building will have a capacity to store 500 metric tonnes of grain with common rooms for farmers to rest.
Deputy Speaker of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, K. Pitchandi, Minister for Public Works E.V. Velu, Minister for Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare M.R.K. Panneerselvam, Minister for School Education Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, and Tiruvannamalai Collector K. Tharpagaraj were present on the occasion.