Andhra Pradesh: Chief Minister directs officials to complete enumeration of crop loss due to recent rains at the earliest

Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy also directs officials to commence rabi paddy procurement from April 15, and kick-start the ‘plant doctor’ concept soon and make it available at RBKs

March 29, 2023 08:53 pm | Updated 08:53 pm IST - VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed the Agricultural Department officials to ensure that paddy procurement for the rabi season begins from April 15.

He has also directed them to complete the enumeration of crop loss during the recent unseasonal rains at the earliest.

At a review meeting conducted at his Camp Office, near here, on Wednesday, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy directed the officials to inspect the fertilizer and pesticide shops in the State.

“Spurious fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides should not be allowed for sale in the market. The supply of quality fertilizers and pesticides to the farmers through Rythu Bharosa Kendras needs to be monitored continuously,” the Chief Minister said.

Responding the Chief Minister’s instructions on enumeration of crop loss, the officials said that the list of farmers who suffered crop loss would be released by the second week of April.

E-cropping

“Hundred percent e-cropping has been completed while targeting to distribute 10.5 lakh tonnes of quality fertilizers to the farmers through the RBKs in 2023-24. Pesticides will be supplied through A.P. Agros,” they said.

Stating that ‘Polambadi’ training programmes were being conducted for the farmers, the officials said expenses had come down in the cultivation of paddy (15%), groundnut (15%), cotton (12%), and maize by 5% per cent. The yield of cotton, maize, groundnut and paddy had gone up by 16%, 15%, 12% and 9%, they said.

The results could be the first step in the direction of introducing complete natural farming methods, they said, adding they were trying to get Good Agricultural Practices certificates for 26 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPO).

Millet, organic clusters

When the officials informed the Chief Minister that millet and organic clusters had been arranged in 19 districts as part of efforts to increase millet production in the State, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy told them to concentrate on marketing methods for millets and horticultural products.

The State had achieved 3.79 lakh tonnes of paddy production in the rabi season of 2022-23, while it was 6.29 lakh tonnes in the 2022 kharif season, the officials said.

The Chief Minister instructed them to implement the ‘Plant Doctor’ concept at the earliest by taking steps to conduct soil tests in March, April and May every year to prepare the farmers for the kharif season by June, and by educating them on the crops to be cultivated.

The concept also should be implemented and made accessible to the farmers through the RBKs, he added.

He approved a proposal to distribute agricultural machine tools to the farmers in April, 500 drones and tarpaulins in July, 1,500 drones by December, and sprayers between July and December.

Agriculture Minister K. Govardhan Reddy; Agri Mission vice-chairman M.V.S. Nagi Reddy; Advisers Tirupal Reddy (Agriculture) and Siva Prasada Reddy (Horticulture);  A.P. Agros chairman B. Navin Nischal;  Principal Secretary ( Agriculture) Gopala Krishna Dwivedi; Special Commissioner (Agriculture) C. Harikiran; Horticultural Commissioner S.S. Sridhar; MARKFED managing director Rahul Pandey, APSSDCS vice-chairman and managing director G. Sekhar Babu; AP Agros V-C & MD S. Krishna Murty and other senior officials were present.

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