Andhra CM directs officials to prove quality seeds, fertilizers, pesticides to farmers

Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh) [India], May 6 (ANI): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday said that directed the officials to give quality seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides to the farmers through Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBK).
While chairing the agriculture and horticulture departments meeting at his camp office in Tadepalli today, the Chief Minister said that the payment of farmers' assistance on May 16 and crop compensation in the first week of June.
Further, the Chief Minister also took stock of the distribution of farm equipment to farmers on subsidy, Kharif preparation, Kisan drones, millet policy, and crop rotation.
The government has also planning to distribute 3 thousand tractors, 4014 farm machinery equipment to the beneficiaries, and 402 harvesters to the community hiring centres in June
To improve the efficiency of Rythu Bharosa Kendra (RBK), Jagan Mohan Reddy directed the officials to introduce internships for agriculture university students.
"During the internship, the students can identify any unseen issues and give us the comprehensive solutions to improve them," said the Chief Minister.
Directing the officials to give more importance to RBKs and E-crop initiatives throughout the state, Reddy said, "Crop insurance should be given transparently. Department must come up with foolproof SOPs so that there will not be any fudging of data. Further, Crop Cultivator Rights Cards (CCRC) should be enforced without any flaws with more awareness so that it would help the tenant farmers with all government aids."
Officials informed that impressed by the RBK initiative by Andhra Pradesh, the Joint Secretary (Fertilizer) of the Government of India visited one of the centres to know more about the concept. They told the Chief Minister that the Centre would set up a pilot project to connect manufacturers directly with RBKs and farmers.
Reiterating that RBKs and E-crop initiatives are an integral part of the concept, the Chief Minister instructed the officials to upgrade the centre with computers and printers, village-level fertilizer stock points, and horticulture cold storage units.
To train the farmers to use the drone facility, the officials informed the Chief Minister that educated farmers would be identified at RBKs. "Any farmer with a science degree can be trained, and we could use them as a Master Trainer to help all other farmers," officials said.
Regarding the growth in agriculture products, officials informed that food products worth 165.07 lakh metric tonnes were produced in 2020-21, and it increased in the 2021-22 period with 171.7 lakh metric tonnes. They said that they are ready with 6 lakh metric tonnes of fertilizer from the district level to the RBK level.
Officials informed that they are taking all possible measures to release water on time without any problem to the irrigation system.
Earlier, the department of agriculture presented RBK momentum to the Chief Minister for getting nominated for Food Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) 'champion' award. (ANI)