AP Govt Committed to Paying Farmers Within 21 Days of Crops Purchase

In regard to Kharif preparedness, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister said that following good rainfall, the irrigation area for the Kharif season is expected to increase this year. He told the Collectors to prioritise e-cropping and conduct timely inspections at the RBK level. Stressing on e-cropping, the Chief Minister instructed the authorities to pay close attention to it as this is a one-stop solution for every welfare scheme like input subsidy, insurance, interest-free loans, and many more. 

He said that farmers must be given a physical receipt along with digital acknowledgment, containing the signature of both farmer and Agriculture assistant duly listing out all e-crop details. He stated that the government is committed to paying farmers within 21 days of the purchase of the crop and shall pay all the pending arrears. The State government purchased 83 lakh metric tonnes, while on average, only 57 lakh metric tonnes are procured every year.

Also Read: AP COVID Positivity Rate Falls to 2.82pc

He said that the Agriculture Advisory Council meetings must be held on the first Friday of every month at the RBK level, the second Friday of each month at the zonal level, and the third Friday of each month at the district level, as these meetings provide a good way to implement a crop plan to cultivate crops that are in demand in the market. Further, he instructed the officials to provide quality seeds, fertilizers and pesticides to farmers through RBKs and to keep a check on black marketing and spurious seeds by conducting regular inspections.

The Chief Minister directed the officials to provide loans to tenant farmers and make sure there are bank representatives in the RBKs. He stated that farmers should not go around banks, and they should avail themselves of banking services at RBKs, as this eliminates banking fraud and ensures better services are being provided to the farmers without any hassles. In regard to the employment guarantee scheme, he said that the target was set to complete 2,000 lakh working days and it had already reached 1971.21 lakh working days. 

He directed the officials to focus on the construction of Village Secretariats, RBKs, YSR Health Clinics, AMC, BMC to get them complete on time. He told the authorities to finish the construction of 10929 village secretariats, 8585 YSR Village Clinics by September 30, 534 YSR Urban Clinics by November 15, RBKs by December 31, and start the construction works of digital libraries by August 15.