Ensure payment of YSR Bharosa installment to farmers in May: Jagan

VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has said officials should ensure release of YSR Bharosa installment to farmers in May and prepare the list of beneficiaries as early as possible.

In a high-level meeting with agriculture minister Kakani Govardhan and civil supplies minister Nageswara Rao and senior officials here on Monday, the CM said the amount under the YSR Bharosa scheme must reach farmers before the start of the kharif season.

Officials must help the farmers get a better price for paddy. There is also a need to bring about awareness among the farmers to raise paddy varieties that are in high demand abroad, so as to boost exports and provide better prices to the farmers, he said.

“Also, keep the requisite varieties of paddy and seeds available to the farmers,” Jagan Mohan Reddy told the officials.

He said a godown must be set up in every RBK limits, and quality seeds, fertilisers and pesticides must be given to farmers through these centres.

Officials informed the CM that they had taken up construction of 1,005 godowns, of which 206 were ready while 93 were in the final stages of completion. They would complete the work by July.  On the supply of farm inputs, the official said more than seven lakh tonnes of fertilisers were supplied to farmers last year and the quantum can be enhanced this year.

The officials briefed the CM on e-crop booking during the rabi season by saying that it was completed in 48,02 lakh acres, covering nearly 97.5 per cent of the targeted area.

“We are issuing digital receipts and their hard copies to the farmers who completed their e-cropping. All such data had been sent to the departments of civil supplies and marketing. We would provide farm tools under YSR Yantraseva to the 3,953 RBK-level community hiring centres and 194 cluster level community hiring centres by May 20. We had given the tools in 6,500 RBK level CHCs last year,” officials said.

The officials informed the CM that they would give 500 Kisan drones by July and 1,500 drones by December under the YSR Yantraseva scheme. The Acharya NG Ranga Agriculture University was providing training on their usage at  Tirupati, Kadpa, Marteru and Vizianagaram. A training centre would be set up in Vizianagaram.

“We would fill up vacant posts in RBKs as also 467 posts of VAA, 1,644 posts of VHA, 23 posts of VSA and 64 posts of VFA in addition to filling up 4,656 animal husbandry assistant posts,” they said.

Officials also said they were doing market intervention based on the information received at the CM app on crops prices. Accordingly, the Chief Minister directed them to intervene whenever the farmers fail to get a minimum support price to their produce, so as to avoid any trouble for them.