R Vaithialingam, the state minister for agriculture, housing and urban development, has said that Tamil Nadu will achieve a record food grain production of 170 lakh tonnes during 2015-16 and bag the prestigious Krishi Karman award for the third time.

Speaking at the annual Farmers’ Day 2016, at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, the minister said that record production was achieved in the past four years of the AIADMK rule under the leadership of Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa due to the focused approach coupled with the adoption of improved farming techniques.

He said that food grain production has gone up from 78 lakh tonnes four years ago to 101 lakh tonnes in 2011-12, and to 110 lakh tonnes the following year, before crossing the 127 lakh tonne mark last year.

Tamil Nadu won the Krishi Karman award in 2011-12 and 2013-14 for record food grain production and pulses production respectively, he said.

Lauding TNAU’s contribution, Vaithilingam, who is also the pro-chancellor of the university, said that it had also come up with a variety of hybrids, laid emphasis on farm mechanization, and created a robust supply chain among others.

In his address, the university vice-chancellor, K. Ramasamy said that TNAU had so far released 1,500 advanced farming techniques, 799 crop varieties and 162 farm equipment for the benefit of the farmers.