: Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday launched the “runa upasamanam” programme in Kadapa, under which loan waiver of Rs. 10,000 per acre would be extended to horticulturists in the State.
Horticultural crops are more remunerative and fetches about 12 times the revenue compared to agricultural crops, Mr. Naidu said after launching the programme at the Kadapa municipal stadium. Loans of horticulturists to the tune of Rs. 380 crore would be waived in the State, including Rs. 67.35 crore, to 32,051 horticulturists in Kadapa district. The benefit in Chittoor district would be around Rs. 100 crore, he added.
Five-acre cap
The loan waiver would be applicable to a maximum of five acres to each family. Mr. Chandrababu Naidu quoted agriculturists as saying that they were getting lesser income even after adopting modern farming practices.
Pisciculture was most fetching avocation, followed by horticulture, dairy, poultry and sheep-rearing, the Chief Minister asserted. He handed over loan waiver certificates to some horticulturists and then went round stalls in which the horticulture crops were exhibited.
