A majority of the farmers wants the State government to provide the annual input assistance of ₹8,000 per acre to each of them by crediting the amount in their bank accounts. This was revealed in a survey conducted by the district administration to collect feedback farmers regarding the government’s proposed input assistance scheme from this financial year.
A total of 1,453 farmers across 14 mandals were interviewed and 35.81% of them (520, in sheer numbers) favoured the bank transaction method, Collector A. Sri Devasena said in a press note on Tuesday. About 22.38% of the respondents (325 farmers) wanted direct cash distribution.
Around 276 (19.01%) farmers said they want the amount in the form of cheques, 151 (10.4%) gave a thumbs up to distribution through post-offices while 140 others (9.64%) wanted preloaded cards.
The remaining 41 farmers (2.82%) sought distribution through Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS).
The survey report would be submitted to the government for action. In the wake of demonetisation and cashless transaction, the Collector said, it would be tough to distribute cash and cheques to farmers and that payment through bank accounts was ideal.
