Vijayawada: Tenant farmers in Andhra Pradesh will also get assistance of Rs 10,000 along with land-owning farmers in a new scheme, ‘Annadata Sukhibhava’, that was cleared by the Cabinet on Wednesday.
While it is modelled on the Rythu Bandhu of the TRS government which gives the assistance to all land-owning farmers, and PM-Kisan of the Central Government which caps the land holding at five acres, the AP scheme follows the one offered by Odisha in covering tenant farmers as well. There is no cap on the land-holding in the AP scheme.
The input cost will be paid in two equal instalments during Kharif and Rabi. The first instalment will be given in the February last week.
The state government had allocated Rs 5,000 crore for the scheme in the Budget last week. Of the Rs 10,000 being offered, Rs 6,000 comes from the PM-Kisan scheme for landed farmers, and Rs 4,000 from the state government. The AP government will bear the entire cost of the scheme for tenant farmers.
Agriculture minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy, after the Cabinet meeting, said that the Andhra Pradesh scheme would benefit about 76.21 lakh farmers, who would be paid Rs 7,621 crore. The Centre’s PM Kisan would have covered about 60 lakh farmers in the state.
He said the government had decided to release Rs 8,000 crore to waive farm loans.
The Cabinet decided to provide smartphones to all members of women SHGs along with a SIM card having three years connectivity.
The Cabinet cleared land allotment to various organisations and institutions in Amaravati and other parts of the state.
