The  Anantapur district has identified 5 clusters which it believes will give an impetus to the horticulture sector in the district.

‘We have identified 5 clusters i.e. Banana, mangoes, chilli, tomatoes & sweet orange in the district to further enhance production and value addition in these areas’ said Anantapur’s district collector Dr Vinod Kumar, IAS speaking at the second collectors conference held in Vijayawada.

And in order to boost farmer income in this region the district has seeked help from APEDA (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export  Development Authority).

‘We are organising buyer-seller meets with APEDA’s assistance to help farmers get good value for their produce. Buyers are coming in from Bengaluru’ apprised Dr Kumar to the chief minister. He however called for the need of having more cold storage facilities in the area for preservation of the produce.

The chief minister, Mr N Chandrababu Naidu urged the collector to target a growth of 25% in this area and asked them to provide end-end solutions to the farmer and also identify specific clusters where cold storage facilities are required.

‘We will provide incentives to the private sector to come and build cold storage in those areas’ said the Chief Minister.