Kerala Agriculture Minister P. Prasad has lauded the initiatives taken by the Andhra Pradesh government related to the farm sector, with a specific reference to the Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBKs).
“Several States are keen on emulating the schemes introduced in Andhra Pradesh. We will seek the cooperation of Andhra Pradesh in setting up facilities similar to the RBKs in Kerala,” Mr. Prasad told the media after visiting an RBK at Tukkuluru village in Nuzvid mandal of Krishna district on Sunday.
Mr. Prasad said that the priority given to the agriculture by the Andhra Pradesh government was being discussed in the country and asserted that by rendering various services, the RBKs made farming easy.
‘Easy access to inputs’
Otherwise, he observed, the farmers had to run from pillar to post to acquire inputs and avail other services which the Agriculture Department was supposed to provide.
He pointed out that the Gujarat government had studied the concepts introduced in A.P. and started implementing some of them. Mr. Prasad said he was impressed with the RBKs that were rendering services — from purchasing seed to realisation of remunerative prices and organic farming.
Agriculture Joint Director (RBKs) V. Sridhar gave a presentation on the initiatives introduced in the farm sector and said a wide variety of services were being rendered by 10,778 RBKs across the State.
The Kerala government delegation comprised State Finance Commission Chairman S.M. Vijayanand, Director of Agriculture T. Subhash, Agriculture Planning Board member S.S. Nagesh and Deputy Directors M.S. Pramod Kumar, K.S. Pratap, Vinod Mohan and T. Vijay Kumar .