The Telangana Government is yet to arrive at the exact extent of agriculture land for which it plans to give input support of ₹4,000 per acre from the next kharif season, scheduled to begin with the early south-west monsoon rains in June.
Although the Revenue Department with the help of Agriculture Department conducted an exercise aimed at purification/updation of land records by teams of officials visiting villages from September 15 to December 15 last, compilation of the data is yet to take final shape. Official sources told The Hindu that the Agriculture Department was scheduled to get the finalised data from District Collectors by March 9 itself, but it is now expected to reach them in a day or two.
The government has already requested six nationalised and two regional rural banks to take up printing of necessary cheques to be distributed to farmers, or rather land owners, well in advance of the commencement of the kharif season. The government has made up its mind to take up distribution of the input support at least from the last week of April.
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“We have received questions from Legislative Assembly and Council on the extent of land eligible for input assistance along with the number of farmers and total amount to be disbursed. Since we don’t have the finalised extent, we have forwarded the file concerned to the Revenue Department and they may send the answers to the Legislature by Tuesday,” a senior officer in Agriculture Department said. As the extent of land eligible for the assistance has not been announced so far, the statistics to be given to the Legislature would become official.
Stating that there would not be much problem in identifying the eligible extent of land for the ₹4,000 per acre assistance for the first crop (kharif season), sources, however, admitted that finalising the extent for the second crop (rabi season) would be difficult. It would be a sensitive issue since the elections are only a year away.
The role of Agriculture Extension Officers (AEOs) would be crucial in finalising the extent of the second crop as it is they who are positioned better than revenue officials. The State would have the required number of AEOs in place at the rate of one per every 5,000 acres of farm land before the next rabi season, the sources stated.
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The land data received from the Revenue Department would be forwarded to State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) by the Agriculture Department by specifying the exact requirement of cheques to be distributed to the farming community.