Srikakulam Collector K. Dhananjaya Reddy on Saturday promised that the district administration would release water to benefit 5 lakh acres from next rabi season. Farmers would be able to grow three crops a year if all the irrigation projects were completed in the district, he said while formally releasing water for rabi crops from the Madduvalasa reservoir after performing puja.
The Collector said it was a historic day in the district since water was never released from reservoirs during rabi season. Mr. Reddy felt that proper budgeting of water was a must. He thanked the State government for supplying ₹7 crore worth of seeds with 50% subsidy to farmers for rabi season.
“As part of mechanising agriculture, we are going to supply ₹30 crore worth of equipment to farmers. It will certainly help improve production and minimise expenditure on manual labour,” he said.
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He directed Joint Director of Agriculture department G. Ramarao to give wide publicity about the government’s initiative and make farmers go for crops other than paddy during rabi.
Meanwhile, Srikakulam Irrigation Circle head T.V. Seshagiri Rao released water to canals from the Thotapalli reservoir. He hoped that the additional income generated from the rabi crop would make farming activity financially viable.