Counsellor for Agricultural Affairs at US Embassy in Delhi Scott Sindelar has a meeting with Telangana agriculture minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy at the Secretariat on mutual cooperation in the field of agriculture. He said that US would have bilateral cooperation with Telangana on agriculture and allied sector.

Scott said that the world population would increase considerably in the next 20 years and there was every need to improve productivity of all the crops.

Besides agricultural practices, the US would also cooperate on setting up agri-based industries, Reddy said. He said there was a scope for setting up of agri-based industries for paddy, soybean and maize crops.

The minister said each farmer family in the state had an average debt of Rs 93,500. “There are 20 lakh farmers’ families in the state. We are planning to reduce the debt burden of these families and also to reduce the suicides,’’ he said.