Mangaluru : Vinay Kumar Sorake, Urban Development Minister, said on Monday that it was necessary to provide better marketing facilities to farmers to sell their produce.

He was speaking after inaugurating the Udupi hobli-level agricultural campaign organised by the Zilla Panchayat along with agriculture and other related departments, here.

Mr. Sorake said that farmers suffer as they do not get good price for their produce. A mechanism whereby the farmers can sell their produce is essential. It is also necessary to provide cold storage and food processing facilities for both agricultural and horticultural produce. “Besides fetching better price, such facilities will add value to the produce,” he said.

A large section of the population in both the district still depends on agriculture, horticulture and dairy farming. However, agriculture and horticulture do not appeal to the younger generation. Even agriculture degree holders prefer white-collared jobs in the cities to ploughing their fields.

Though both the Union and State governments have launched several programmes for giving a fillip to agriculture, it did not have the desired impact. This is because of the gap between Government departments and the farmers.

“It is essential to encourage the farmers to take to mechanization of agriculture and inform them about new techniques to improve the yield of their crops. The government departments should go to the doorsteps of the farmers,” he said.

The departments should also provide both agricultural and horticultural farmers information about the diseases and the pests that could affect their crops and the measures that can be taken to prevent them. “Advance information about diseases and pests would go a long way in protecting the crop and benefit the farmers,” he said.

Water resources play an important role in helping the farmers. The district has a huge potential as far as water resources are concerned. This potential needs to be tapped. Since water and agriculture are inter-connected, the agriculture and watershed have been merged at the district and hobli-level for better coordination, a few years ago, Mr. Sorake said.

Ida Gibba D’Souza, Upendra Nayak, Zilla Panchayat members, Shobha S. Poojarti, Ganesh Kumar, Taluk Panchayat members, Anthony Maria Immanuel, Joint Director of Agriculture, M. Hanumanthappa, Associate Director of Zonal Agricultural and Horticultural Research Station, Jayalaxmi N. Hegde, Programme Coordinator of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, were present.