Guntur: Using the YSRCP plenary as the stage in Guntur on Sunday, party president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy announced several schemes that primarily benefit farmers and are aimed at preventing farmer-suicides.

The party chief announced Rs 50,000 to small and marginal farmers who own five acres or less of farm land. Notably, this amount will be given directly to the farmer and not deposited into the ryot’s bank account. This is being done to ensure that the banks do not adjust the amount to their previous loans. This will be the highlight of the 'YSR Barosa' scheme that will be implemented immediately after the YSRCP comes to power in 2019, YS Jagan said. Also, farmers will be given Rs 12,500 each year in the month of May in time for the sowing season, he added.

"Every eligible farmers will get these benefits irrespective of their caste, place, religion or political affiliation. They will also have the freedom to spend the money on any type of crop of their choosing," he said. A total of Rs 33,000 crore will be set aside for the implementation of this scheme which is three times more than the Rs 11,000 crore spent by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu during the three years of his tenure, YS Jagan said.

On the occasion, the YSRCP chief also announced a Calamity Relief Fund with a corpus fund of Rs 2,000 crore and a Price Stabilization Fund with an amount of Rs 3,000 crore. The Calamity Relief Fund will help the farmers tide over unforeseen conditions such as drought or floods. The 'YSR Rythu Barosa' scheme will help the farmers reduce the input cost and also provide them with minimum support price for their produce, YS Jagan explained.