VIJAYAWADA: During a short discussion on agriculture in the State Assembly on Tuesday, Minister for Agriculture Kakani Govardhan Reddy highlighted the various pro-farmer initiatives of the YSRC government.
“The growth rate of agriculture and allied sectors in Andhra Pradesh is high, compared to the national average. As against the national average of 10%, the State has achieved a growth rate of 13.07% in 2021-22. In the current fiscal, the State’s growth rate is expected to be 13.18% as against the national average of 11.2%,” he explained.
Asserting that AP is turning out to be a model for other States, he said a total of Rs 1,70,463 crore was spent on agriculture and farmer welfare in the last 52 months. “Under the YSR Rythu Bharosa scheme, Rs 31,005 crore has been spent, saving farmers from the debt trap. Instead of sticking to its promise of Rs 50,000 aid per farmer, the YSRC government is extending an aid of Rs 67,500 aid to each farmer over a period of five years,” he highlighted.
Elaborating on other schemes, he said under the zero-interest crop loan scheme for farmers, Rs 1,472 crore was disbursed and for the first time in the country, AP had implemented free crop insurance to ensure universal coverage.
Taking a dig at the previous TDP regime for ‘cheating’ farmers, he said pending dues of Rs 785 crore under the zero-interest crop loan scheme were cleared by the YSRC government. A whopping Rs 58,855 crore has been spent on paddy procurement. For handholding farmers, 10,778 RBKs have been set up across the State. “We stood by our promise of supplying quality free power to the farm sector for 9 hours in the daytime. A total of Rs 42,966 crore has been spent for this,” he added.