AP Agriculture Budget: Stress on Kisan Drone Technology and Digital Agriculture

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh’s budgetary allocations of Rs 43,402.33 crore for agriculture and allied sectors lay emphasis on two major sectors -- Kisan Drone Technology and Digital Agriculture.

Agriculture minister K Atchannaidu and municipal administration minister P Narayana presented the agriculture and allied sectors budget in the state assembly and legislative council respectively on Monday.

The Kisan Drone Technology would be introduced in the agriculture sector from this year. As part of this, Kisan Drone Custom Hiring Centres will be set up. The drones will help farmers in plant protection as also herbicide sprays with a reduced dosage of 25 per cent to save the expenditure on input costs and to increase net income.

Drone usage is expected to save time and help more coverage of acreage. The drones will also be used for seed sowing and spraying of liquid fertilisers. The state government plans to set up Drone CHCs in all villages in the state in three years, it was stated.

The agriculture minister said the state government was planning to set up 875 Drone CHCs at a cost of Rs 87.50 crore in its first phase in 2024-25. The farmers and rural youth are getting trained in drone piloting and maintenance and service of drones at Acharya NG Ranga university and DROGO Drones Pvt Ltd.

Atchannaidu stated that, to provide scientific technology in a more efficient manner, the state government is offering digitalisation services to farmers.

These include: e-Panta, AGRISNET portal, D-Krishi app which uses biometric method to distribute subsidised seeds to eligible farmers, Crop Life System, pest and disease surveillance reporting app, agri-advisory portal, the INSIGHT app to check transparency in quality control of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, collection of samples and testing of agricultural inputs, the Agri Stack Initiative meant to create a special database for farmers’ land records and crop sown details.

The government would enact the New Tenancy Act this year, to introduce reforms in identification of eligible tenants and to issue tenant entitlement cards to all eligible tenants to provide them hassle free crop loans and also welfare schemes.

“We would also introduce the ‘Vaddi Leni Runalu and Pavala Vaddi’ scheme from 2024-25 to all the farmers who avail crop loans up to Rs 3 lakh and repay these within one year.”

The state government, the minister said, has designed a comprehensive new water policy to facilitate the availability of water to all the users on a priority basis to meet their domestic, agricultural, industrial, aqua and other needs. The Polavaram irrigation project would be completed with a revised estimate of ` 55,548.87 crore as the project cost.

The state government would take up and complete the Chintalapudi Lift Irrigation Scheme, the Interlinking of Godavari and Penna rivers in phase-1, the BRR Vamsadhara project phase-11 of stage-11, the Poola Subbaiah Veligonda project, the Handri Niva Sujala Sravanthi project etc. It aims to modernise the Budameru canal to protect farmers’ crops from floods. This would involve a cost of `3,300 crore.