AMARAVATI: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launched the RBK channel in virtual mode at the camp office here on Thursday and held a review meeting on procurement of Rabi crop produce of 2020-21 and preparations for Kharif 2021–22.

During the review meeting, the Chief Minister said RBKs are set up to support farmers in all activities ranging from sowing seeds to selling the crop. He said new buildings are also being constructed for RBKs in the villages so that all these buildings should be permanent for all the farmers. He said farmers should not be cheated on the purchase of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, etc through RBKs and added that the state government has been testing the products at RBKs and giving guarantee and quality certification with government stamps on it. He said the aim is to make the orders available to the farmers in the villages within 48 to 72 hours of placing them.

The Chief Minister said Agriculture Assistants are working from RBKs and e-cropping is being registered at the same place. The poster with details of the minimum support price for any crop within the RBK’s limit is displayed in the RBK. He said if any farmer has to sell his crop for less than the minimum support price in any village, he can register in RBK and the Agriculture assistant of that village should inform the government by uploading the details in CMAPP. He said the marketing department would intervene and ensure the crop is sold at a fair price if not it should procure the crop from the farmer directly and added that all this process will be done under the preview of Joint Collector.

He said the RBK channel is launched to provide information to farmers on crops and weather conditions. As Smart TVs are being set up in RBKs, the RBK Channel would help the farmers to get continuous information on the precautions to be taken while farming and information on weather conditions, he said and added that a toll-free number (155251) is set up to address the specific problems raised by farmers at RBKs. The Chief Minister told the agriculture minister and secretary to come up with a system to address the doubts of the farmers in RBKs in an interactive manner with the scientists. He said the state government has been taking revolutionary steps as part of the process of bringing them closer and more useful to the farmers.

Agriculture Minister Kurasala Kannababu, Agriculture Mission Vice-Chairman MVS Nagi Reddy, Agriculture Special Chief Secretary Poonam Malakondaiah, Civil Supplies Commissioner Kona Shashidhar, Special Secretary for Marketing and Cooperation Y Madhusudhan Reddy, Agriculture Marketing Commissioner MD Suryakumari, and other officials were present.