Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy directed the officials of the Agriculture Department to be prepared to disburse the YSR Rythu Bharosa instalment to the eligible farmers in May before the kharif season begins and immediately clear the balance amount of Rs. 33crore outstanding to the farmers on kharif paddy procurement.
At a review meeting of the Agricultural, Marketing, Cooperation and Civil Supplies Departments held here on Monday, the Chief Minister asked them to prepare the list of eligible farmers for Rythu Bharosa at the earliest. The list would be made available at all village secretariats by May 10, they told him.
The distribution of fertilisers, seeds and pesticides to the farmers through RBKs (Rythu Bharosa Kendras) should be taken up more efficiently and the quantity should be increased every year, he suggested, pointing out that that there should also be a constant vigil on the functioning of CM App for providing improvised services to the farmers. He told them to explore the possibility of getting higher price for farmers on Rabi paddy procurement.
The SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) of the CM App should be improved to ensure that Minimum Support Price (MSP) is paid to the farmers felicitating official intervention wherever necessary, he observed. The officials replied they are strictly implementing these instructions and taking corrective measures for improving its functioning.
He said the toll free number should be prominently displayed on the receipts of paddy procurement to enable farmers to lodge complaints on grievances, besides providing important suggestions on cultivation.
Stressing the need to create awareness among farmers on different varieties of paddy which are in high demand abroad, he told them to keep the seeds also ready so that farmers would get them on time. This would help farmers opt for exports which would get them best price for their produce.
When the Chief Minister asked the officials to ensure that there is one godown at least in each RBK jurisdiction, they told him they have taken steps to construct 1005 go-downs and 206 of them are ready for functioning while the construction of 93 godowns is in final stages. The work on the rest would be completed by July, they said.
They explained that 7 lakh tons of fertilisers were distributed to farmers last year while plans are afoot to distribute more this year. e-crop booking for 48.02 lakh acres has been completed so far and the data has been forwarded to the Civil Supplies Department, they further said, adding they have given the physical receipts also to the farmers.
They further said that agricultural utensils would be handed over to 3953 RBK level Community Hiring Centres and 194 cluster-level Community Hiring Centres before May 20 while 500 Drones would be given by July. Steps are being taken to distribute 1500 drones by the end of December.
Farmers would be trained on the use of Drones by the Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University at Tirupati, Kadapa, Marteru and Vizianagaram, they said adding that the first such training centre is coming up at Vizianagaram.
He was also told that steps are being taken to fill 467 VAA, 1644 VHA, 23VSA, 64 VFA and 4656 Animal Husbandry Assistant vacant posts in RBKs.
Minister for Agriculture and Cooperation K. Govardhana Reddy, Civil Supplies Minister KV Nageswara Rao, AP Agri Mission Vice Chairman MVS Nagi Reddy, Advisor to Government ( Agriculture) I. Tirupal Reddy, Chief Secretary Dr. K.S. Jawahar Reddy, Principal Secretaries Chiranjeevi Choudary (Marketing and Cooperation) and Gopalakrishna Dwivedi (Agriculture), Agriculture Special Commissioner CH Harikiran, Agriculture Commissioner Rahul Pande (Marketing), Horticultural Commissioner SS Sridhar, Civil Supplies Commissioner H. Arunkumar, APSSDC VC & MD G. Sekhar Babu, APSCSC VC & MD G. Veerapandyan and other officials were among those present.
