VIJAYAWADA: Reiterating his government’s commitment to the farm sector and farm mechanisation, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday flagged off tractors, combine harvesters and other farm machinery worth Rs 361.29 crore under the second phase of the YSR Yantra Seva Scheme at Chuttugunta in Guntur city.
He also formally launched 4,019 YSR Yantra Seva Kendras (community hiring centres), handed over 2,562 tractors, 100 combine harvesters and 3,573 farm machines to the farmers’ groups attached to the Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBKs). Besides, Jagan disbursed subsidy of Rs 125.48 crore into the bank accounts of farmers’ groups.
The Chief Minister explained that the main objective of YSR Yantra Seva scheme is to form farmer groups under each RBK and attach them to a community hiring centre, further providing them with farm machinery like tractors and harvesters at subsidised prices. Stating that these groups can help farmers to use the equipment at low costs, he remarked, “This will be in true spirt of Gram Swaraj.”
Elaborating, Jagan said the scheme aims at reducing cost of cultivation and enhance farmers’ income through mechanisation, and added that the farm equipment can be hired by farmers at an economical cost.The Chief Minister said 40% subsidy would be given on purchase of the machines, while 50% of the cost will be arranged through loans, so that the farmers’ groups have to pay only 10% of the cost.
Stating that the tractors and harvesters would be at the disposal of 10,444 RBKs, he explained that cluster-level community hiring centres (CHCs) would supervise the operations.“In the first phase, we had handed over 3,800 tractors, 391 combine harvesters and 22,580 farm machines worth Rs 690.87 crore to farmers’ groups working under 6,525 RBKs with a subsidy of Rs 240.67 crore. As many as 391 CHCs were also set up,” he pointed out.
Further, Jagan announced that individual farm equipment and implements like sprayers, tarpaulins will be provided to seven lakh farmers in October.He added that the State government will also launch YSR Yantra Seva App and farmers can access it at RBKs.Later, he drove a tractor with Andhra Pradesh State Agriculture Mission vice-chairman MVS Nagi Reddy and others.Agriculture Minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy and others were present.