Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday said agricultural pumpsets throughout the State would be fitted with electricity meters soon following the successful implementation of a pilot project in Srikakulam district. He stressed the need to spread awareness about the purpose of these meters through the Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBKs), saying that the Opposition parties were misleading the farmers about it.
Addressing a review meeting on the agriculture sector on Friday, Mr. Jagan said there was a saving of 30% of power due to the meters, and insisted that the project would be beneficial to farmers and the power sector as a whole.
Upon the installation of meters, the utilities would be in a position to supply quality power in all districts, he said.
Input assistance
Mr. Jagan said yet another tranche of input assistance would be distributed to the farmers under the Rythu Bharosa scheme on May 16 and crop insurance would be paid before June 15 in order to help the farmers prepare for the Kharif season.
Besides, 3,000 tractors and various agricultural implements would be given away at 4,014 custom hiring centres in the first week of June. Financial assistance would be disbursed under the Matsyakara Bharosa scheme on May 11.
Mr. Jagan emphasised the importance of conducting the social audit as per guidelines from time to time to ensure that the schemes targeted at farmers reached them, and ordered that focus be laid on the functioning of RBKs, and e-cropping.
He directed the officials to immediately respond to complaints of non-payment of minimum support prices and to ensure that banking correspondents were available at the RBKs to meet the requirements of farmers.
Officials told the Chief Minister that various crops were cultivated on 90.77 lakh acres in the 2021 Kharif season and on 54.54 lakh acres during the Rabi. There was scope for cultivation of third crop in over 1,00,000 hectares due to favourable conditions. Six lakh metric tonnes of fertilizers were readied for the Kharif season.
Mr. Jagan directed the officials to provide crop cultivator rights cards to tenant farmers and to conduct a demand survey in order to supply different types of equipment required by farmers, particularly the small and marginal ones.
Drones
Further, Mr. Jagan instructed the officials to motivate the farmers to utilise drones to the extent possible keeping in view their diverse applications. The guidelines laid down by the Central government in this regard (for pressing ‘Kisan drones’ into service) should be followed, the Chief Minister said and called for an action plan to implement the millets policy.
Minister for Agriculture, Cooperation, Marketing and Food Processing Kakani Govardhan Reddy, Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma, AP Agriculture Mission vice-chairman M.V.S. Nagi Reddy and Special Chief Secretary Poonam Malakondaiah were present.
