VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed the Agriculture Department to make foolproof arrangements for e-cropping of crops to be cultivated in the Kharif season. Addressing a review meeting on agriculture and allied sectors on Monday, the Chief Minister said every crop of the farmer cultivated in Kharif should be covered under the e-crop system. Based on the e-crop data, farmers can be compensated for crop loss due to natural calamities and other factors. Directing the officials to strengthen the e-crop system, he said the digital receipt of e-crop should be directly sent to farmer’s cell phone so that he can question the authorities in case of any problem. An SOP should be prepared in this regard.
The joint responsibility of e-crop process should be entrusted to the VRO, survey assistant and agriculture assistant and the master register with data of lands being cultivated in the village should be made available to them, he asserted.
Jagan said geo tagging and uploading photographs should be done in e-cropping. It should be started from July 15 and completed by the end of August. Social audit should start in the first week of September and the lists should be displayed at village and ward secretariats for the benefit of farmers.Senior officials should review e-crop for every 15 days and mandal and district level officials should inspect the e-cropping process more frequently, he instructed.
Jagan asked the officials to ensure no involvement of millers in paddy procurement and it should be done through Rythu Bharosa Kendras only. The responsibility of paddy procurement and payment of money to farmers lies with the Civil Supplies Department.
After procurement, paddy should be weighed at another weigh bridge and receipt should be given to farmers so that they will get minimum support price for their produce. It is the responsibility of the government to procure the crop and ensure MSP to farmers for their produce, he averred.Jagan made it clear to the officials that they should become the voice of the voiceless farmers and ensure justice to them. The officials should own up responsibility of ensuring MSP to farmers for their agriculture produce, he added.
Agriculture Minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy, Civil Supplies Minister Karumuri Nageswara Rao, AP Agri Mission Vice-Chairman MVS Nagi Reddy, Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma, Agriculture Special Chief Secretary Poonam Malakondaiah, Agriculture Advisor Ambati Krishna Reddy, Marketing and Cooperation Principal Secretary Y Madhusudan Reddy, Civil Supplies Commissioner M Girija Shankar, Agriculture Special Commissioner C Hari Kiran, Finance Secretary KVV Satyanarayana and other officials attended the review meeting.