HYDERABAD: Happy with the farmers falling in line to his novel concept of regulated farming, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday decided to credit Rythu Bandhu subsidy to the bank accounts of all of them in the next 10 to 12 days.
At a review meeting on agriculture at Pragati Bhavan here, the Chief Minister said: “No farmer should be left out of Rythu Bandhu. All of them should get the money. As the agriculture works have commenced in the State, farmers should not face any difficulty over money.”
The Chief Minister expressed delight over farmers consenting to raising crops under ‘regulated crop policy’ of the government. “The idea is to help the farmers get remunerative price for their produce, which would be possible only when he goes in for the type of crop for which there is demand in the market,” he said.
He said though the State government is facing a financial crisis, it has decided to pay Rythu Bnadhu subsidy amount. “We require Rs 7,000 crore for kharif season to pay Rs 5,000 per acre to farmers under Rythu Bandhu. Already, the government transferred Rs 5,500 crore to the Agriculture Department for disbursement. The Finance Department officials are directed to transfer another Rs 1,500 crore to the Agriculture Department in next one week,” Rao said. He also directed the officials to start depositing the money in farmers’ accounts and complete the process in next 10 to 12 days.
The government, at the time of the formulation of the regulated farming policy, had said that those farmers who do not follow the government advice on which crop should be raised in what extent, would be made ineligible for Rythu Bandhu subsidy scheme. Now that all farmers are ready to follow the government advice, the Chief Minister has decided to pay the subsidy to all the farmers. The seed corporation officials informed the Chief Minister that sowing had been completed in around 11 lakh acres in vanakalam (kharif) so far and that the farmers had purchased seeds across the State as per the directions given by the government for regulated crop policy. The CM said that it was heartening to note that all the farmers had come forward to implement the regulated crop policy. “The government would support the farmers in future too, “ he averred.
“Our ultimate goal is to make the farmer a king. For this, regulated crop is a good initiative,” he added. Meanwhile, the CM directed the officials to prepare plans well in advance for the yasangi (rabi) crop too. Benefits plenty The Chief Minister said that regulated crop system had many advantages. “This is not intended for one season or one crop. This is being implemented with foresight. Of the total paddy procured by the FCI this season, 55 per cent was procured from Telangana alone. Once, the combined AP rulers said that Telangana people did not know what farming is. But, we have proved our critics wrong,” he said. Rao also recalled that Punjab which achieved tremendous progress in agriculture faced disasters for not rotating crops.
The regulated crop of the State was intended to avoid a repeat of “Punjab disaster” in Telangana, the Chief Minister said. “Under regulated crops, the farmers raise those crops which are in demand so that the farmers would not face problems in selling at MSP,” Rao said, adding: “The change of crops too would help in nourishing the soil.”