Farmers Day Celebrations at State, District, Mandal, RBK Levels Today in AP

VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy will deposit Rs 1,117.21 crore as insurance claim pertaining to Kharif 2022 into the accounts of 10.20 lakh farmers at the click of a button on Saturday.

He would do so during the Dr YSR Rythu Dinotsavam programme at Kalyanadurgam in Anantapur district, marking the birth anniversary of former chief minister late Y.S. Rajashekar Reddy. The day is commemorated by the state government by designating it as the Dr YSR Rythu Dinotsavam.

The Chief Minister would also inaugurate 52 Dr YSR Agri Testing Labs, set up at a cost of Rs 3.96 crore, to test quality of the agricultural produce. The farmers’ day celebrations will be held across the state.

Notably, the Jagan Mohan government has, for the fourth year in a row, been offering YSR Free Crop Insurance without any break.

Jagan Mohan Reddy said, “Like nowhere else in the country, the YSRC government took the entire responsibility of paying insurance premiums on behalf of farmers without burdening them by a single paisa, under the Dr YSR Free Crop Insurance scheme.”

 “We are registering every acre of cultivated land in e-crop through RBKs in the village itself to provide insurance protection to the notified crops. Regular settlement of insurance claims of a particular agricultural season before commencement of the same season the following year is done. This was never done by others earlier.”

Agriculture minister Kakani Govardhan said that including the Rs 1,117.21 crore assistance being provided on July 8, the total compensation paid to 54.48 lakh farmers under the Dr YSR Free Crop Insurance in these four years was Rs 7,802.05 crore.

He explained that the government is establishing 147 testing laboratories at Assembly constituency level, 10 laboratories at district level and 4 regional coding centres at a cost of Rs 213.27 crores to certify the quality of seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and other agricultural products.

“In the first phase, 75 labs have started functioning. The government has made 127 labs available to farmers, including 52 being inaugurated now. While this scheme takes one stride forward towards farmer welfare, Jagan Mohan Reddy takes two. Making agriculture a celebration, our government is standing by the farmers by implementing such revolutionary ideas.”

Explaining the agriculture welfare schemes, Govardhan said that in an unprecedented initiative, the present government is providing an assistance of '13,500 every year in three installments (May, October, January) under the YSR Rythu Bharosa to all eligible landless SC, ST, BC, Minority tenant farmers, as also the farmers cultivating ROFR & Endowment lands. These also included the eligible farmers cultivating their own lands.

He said that the establishment of 10,778 Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBKs) across the state as one-stop centres to facilitate farmers from seed to crop sale in their own village itself was also a great success.

He said the Farmers Day (Rythu Dinotsavam) would be celebrated across 26 districts on Saturday.