HYDERABAD: In 18 months since it assumed office, the Revanth Reddy government has spent a whopping Rs 1,04,940 crore on the welfare of the farmers in the state.
According to government sources, no other state government has spent such a large amount in such a short span of time for uplifting the farmers and their families,
In its first year in office, the government created a new record by waiving farmers loans at one go. Farm loans up to Rs 2 lakh were waived, benefiting around 25 lakh farmers, sources said. “During the previous BRS regie, the crop loans used to be waived in four to five instalments, imposing interest burden on farmers. Even after 10 years of BRS rule, several farmers could not clear their debts,” they added.
In contrast, the Congress government waived Rs 20,616 crore worth of crop loans in its first year in office. Besides, the government also allocated huge funds to the Rythu Bharosa scheme within just 18 months. So far, Rs 12,682 crore has been disbursed under this scheme, they said.
Sources, meanwhile, said that in the current monsoon crop season, the government set a new record in providing input assistance. “From June 16 onwards, within just five days, Rs 7,310.59 crore was directly deposited into farmers’ accounts. A total of 65.12 lakh farmers received Rythu Bharosa benefits so far,” they said.
It may be recalled that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy directed the officials to disburse Rs 9,000 crore under Rythu Bharosa scheme within nine days.
Sources also revealed that the government has spent Rs 16,691 crore towards power subsidy to 29 lakh pump sets in the state. Paddy worth Rs 29,562 crore was procured by the government. Payments were made to 21.59 lakh farmers within 48 hours of purchase.
In 2023-24, the government procured 95.31 lakh metric tonnes of paddy from 15 lakh farmers by paying Rs 20,964 crore.The state also produced record paddy of 2.8 crore tonnes and stood number one in the country. In the Yasangi (Rabi) season, the state produced 80.56 lakh tonnes of coarse variety and 46.96 lakh metric tonnes of fine variety paddy.
For farmers who suffered crop losses due to recent untimely rains and floods, the government paid compensation of Rs 10,000 per acre, amounting to Rs 260 crore in total. For the past few years, several centrally-sponsored agricultural schemes had stalled due to the state’s failure to release matching grants.
The government has now revived around 16 such schemes, spending approximately Rs 245 crore. Since December 2023, 40,265 farmers have received equipment worth Rs 282 crore from the government, sources added.