Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has asked the officials to promote cultivation of millets by creating awareness among farmers about the good returns the crops can fetch.
During a review meeting on agriculture, e-cropping, Rythu Bharosa Kendra (RBKs) and the projects regarding development and strengthening of infrastructure facilities in farm and its allied sectors on Wednesday, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said that necessary steps should be taken to ensure that farmers got better remunerative prices for their produce.
Referring to Agricultural Advisory Boards (AAB) meetings, the Chief Minister instructed the officials to resolve the issues highlighted by these boards and said that the authorities should take the responsibility of addressing the issues raised by farmers. The officials informed him that more than one lakh farmers were part of the AABs in the State.
Reviewing the Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBKs), the Chief Minister said that fertilizers, pesticides and seeds requested by farmers should be made available at the RBKs within the stipulated time and stressed on providing quality products through RBKs.
“A system should be set up to resolve farmers’ issues directly through the RBK centres by using Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. The authorities must focus on creating awareness among farmers on natural farming,” said Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy and asked the officials to hire buildings on rental basis for setting up small godowns to store seeds, fertilizers and pesticides.
ISO certification
The Chief Minister said there should be continuous monitoring and review of the performance of RBKs and directed the authorities to take steps to get the ISO certification for the facilities. He said the YSR Agri Testing Labs must be launched in December this year.
In regard to the YSR Polambadi programme, the Chief Minister said that the government was conducting a Polambadi programme on 15 types of crops and asserted that the schedule of farming activities should be displayed at all RBKs. He emphasised on getting certification for organic agricultural products and instructed the authorities to ensure that better price was provided for them.
Agriculture Assistants
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy also emphasised on e-cropping booking and said farmers must be given a physical receipt along with digital acknowledgement listing out all e-crop details. “The entire process must be done in a transparent manner. Besides making heavy machinery available at the Community Hiring Centres, the officials must ensure that all necessary farming tools are available at RBKs by the next rabi season,” he said and ordered to fill the 2,038 vacant posts in village secretariats with Agriculture Assistants.
The Chief Minister also asked the authorities to replace dysfunctional transformers with new ones immediately .
He said farmers have no objection in fixing meters as it would help them know the power usage .
“The government is spending more for providing quality power to farmers by strengthening the feeders and bringing in a 10,000 MW solar power project to ensure uninterrupted power supply to farmers,” said Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Meanwhile, the officials said the State had received 421.7 mm of rainfall against the normal of 403.3mm. Normal or heavy rainfall was recorded in all districts except for Nellore. So far, 67.41 lakh acres have been cultivated this kharif when compared to the target of 76.65 lakh acres.
