Hyderabad, August 12: The Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, has said that Andhra Pradesh was the only State in the country which has accorded top priority to agriculture and achieved many a milestone to become a role model.
The Chief Minister held a teleconference with Agriculture Minister, Mr N. Raghuveera Reddy, and Advisor to Government and Deputy Chairman, Agricultural Technology Mission, Mr D. A. Somayajulu, in the backdrop of the Minister’s meeting with the President of India, Ms Pratibha Singh Devi Patil, in New Delhi today to showcase the progress made by Andhra Pradesh in agriculture sector in the last six years. He also directed the Chief Secretary, Mr S. V. Prasad, after the teleconference to continuously monitor the targets set by the State to achieve targeted production of 208 lakh mt during the year in view of favourable monsoon. He also thanked the President for evincing interest on Andhra Pradesh. The President is expected to visit the State on August 18.
The President evinced keen interest to know the various steps taken by the State government in saving the farmers from a debt trap in 2004 to a formidable position today. Andhra Pradesh today occupied top position not only in agricultural production, but also in the allied sectors of poultry, fish, meat, animal husbandry and so on. The Centre also depends a lot on Andhra Pradesh as far as food security is concerned.
Ever since the Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy government took over on May 14, 2004, the State government had taken up several remedial and historic measures to mitigate the problems of the farmers in the State. The government took many initiatives, both fiscal and non-fiscal, for giving push to agriculture. These included both short-term and long-term initiatives, said Mr Rosaiah.
The first and the foremost step taken was supply of free power to 95% of the farmers in the State which was not under implementation earlier. A sum of Rs 1,259 crores was waived off towards power bill arrears of the farmers. Another major proactive measure taken by the State government as part of coming to the rescue of the farmer was providing Crop Insurance to the farmer with village as a unit. Under farm credit, the State government has been extending loans to the farmers liberally with the cooperation of the Banks.
The State government was giving top priority for farm extension programs and in this regard, formulated several innovative programs like Rythu Chaitanya Yatralu, Rythu Sadassulu and Adarsha Rythulu in order to sensitize and educate the farmers in modern and scientific farming methods and boost agricultural production. A major achievement of the State government during the last four years was its efforts in reducing the cost of Bt. Cotton seed packet of 450 grams from Rs 1,852 to Rs 750 through a legal battle from 2006-07 onwards.
Under the distribution of land to the land less poor scheme, the State government has so far distributed 7,09,229 lakh acres to 5,04,099 beneficiaries in the last six years besides spending Rs 500 crores for the development of assigned lands. The State government also gave priority to Agricultural education in a big way. As part of this, a Horticultural University, a Veterinary University and seven Agriculture Polytechnics were established. Besides, WTO Cell was established in the Department of Agriculture.
The State government’s main focus was on the development of agriculture and allied activities, as we firmly believe that a high growth rate in agriculture and allied activities is a pre-requisite for achieving a sustained GDP growth rate of 9%. In a way, the State has revisited the first Green Revolution initiatives and worked very closely with the Banks to ensure that there is adequate flow of credit to the farm sector. The government has taken up for implementation a large number of irrigation projects.
Besides, the Centre’s initiatives have also come in handy. The Prime Minister’s package was implemented with an outlay of Rs 9,650 crores in three years ie.2006-07 to 2008-09. The National Food Security Mission is also being implemented in the State during the period from 2007-08 to 2011-12. Similarly, under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, the program was being implemented in the State with Rs 2,700-crore outlay from 2007-08 to 2011-12. As the result of proactive measures taken up by the State government, the food grain production reached all time high of 204 lakh mt during 2008-09. It is targeted to produce 208 lakh mt during 2010-11.
“We also achieved a GSDP growth rate of 9.17% per annum for the five years period from 2004-09, as against Nation’s 8.47%,” the Chief Minister said.
——–NSS