Agri-Journalism awards were presented to 10 journalists here on Sunday for their outstanding contribution to promotion of agriculture. The award function was organised by Nuziveedu Seeds Pvt Ltd in memory of eminent agricultural scientist Dr IV Subba Rao, better known as ‘Soil Man’.

Addressing the gathering, Lok Satta Party president Jayaprakash Narayan cautioned that any neglect of agriculture would lead to ruin of the economy as 60 per cent of the state’s economy depended on agriculture. Accusing political parties of using the farmers’ flight as a tool to further their political interests, the MLA said such a dangerous game would only aggravate the farmers’ plight. “Though many researches are being carried out in agriculture the result yielded has been nil so far,” he noted.

Union minister of state for human resource development D Purandeswari, who was the chief guest, called for closer coordination between the agricultural ministry and agricultural research institutes. Conventional methods often proved to bear more fruits than modern techniques, she said.

Those who were awarded at the function were: Dr. Vasireddy (editor, Annadata); MEV Prasad Reddy (Paadipantalu of Vartha), B Venkat Rao (Doordarshan), N Sudhakar Reddy (AIR, Kurnool), G Vijay Kumar (Prasar Bharati), Y Venkateshwar Rao (Raitu Nestham), U Sridevi (TV5 ), Shyam Sunder Reddy (Sakshi), Y Raghavendra Rao (Andhra Jyoti), and Raitu Kavi (The Hindu).