Two Years of Accomplishments
Given that the state of finances after the new Government took over was bleak , it seemed nearly an impossible task to fulfill this promise . But a determined Chief Minister ' s one of the first initiatives after the swearing-in was signing on the file related to debt redemption .
The Chandrababu Naidu Government ' s most ambitious welfare scheme is agricultural debt redemption . It was a promise made to the debt-ridden farmers by the ruling party , and the Chief Minister made it his mission to implement this commitment at any cost .
Given that the state of finances after the new Government took over was bleak , it seemed nearly an impossible task to fulfill this promise . But a determined Chief Minister ' s one of the first initiatives after the swearing-in was signing on the file related to debt redemption .
Once the Farmers Agricultural Debt Redemption Scheme in June 2014 was approved , the Government evolved a comprehensive , transparent and IT based solution and used it for the systematic implementation of the scheme .
The salient features of the scheme include the following :
• Redemption of outstanding amount of crop loan upto Rs 1.5 lakhs per family
• One – time – settlement ( OTS ) of the account in respect of families whose loan eligible for redemption is less than Rs 50,000 .
The Government had also announced a separate scheme of debt redemption for the horticulture farmers , at Rs 10,000 per acre .
The Agricultural Loan Redemption Scheme has been implemented in 4 phases and amounts eligible have been adjusted to the bank accounts of the Farmers , by the Rythu Saadhikara Samstha .
Highlights
• Total Number of accounts declared eligible in 4 Phases : 54.98 Lakhs
• Number of Farmers benefited : 35.41 Lakhs
• Total amount of loan redeemed ( Principal Only ): Rs 19,669 crores
• Commitment for next four installments ( with interest ): Rs 15149 crores
Horticultural Loan Redemption Scheme
• Total Number of accounts declared eligible :
2.23 Lakhs
• Number of Farmers benefited : 1.79 Lakhs
• Total amount of loan redeemed ( Principal Only ):
Rs 384.47 crores
Debt Redemption Scheme may come to the rescue of farmers immediately , but the Chief Minister ' s resolve is to boost incomes of farmers in the long run through a host of best agricultural practices and improved storage and marketing . Towards this end , the State Government has taken up a series of initiatives for supporting the sector .
With the objective of making agriculture , more profitable , productive and sustainable , the State Government presented a separate agriculture budget for 2016-17 with an outlay of Rs . 16,250.58 crore .
Panta Sanjeevani
In a bid to promote crop cultivation during dry spells and improve the declining ground water levels , state government has introduced a new farm pond scheme – ‘ Panta Sanjeevani ’, to help the farming community in case of failure between seasons . The target is to dig 10 lakh farm ponds across the state .
Agri Pumpsets
Nearly two lakh farmers across 13 districts in the state are being provided energy efficient agricultural pumpsets free of cost in fiscal 2016-17 . The state government is set to distribute the pumps to the 2 lakh select farmers in all 13 districts .
The Andhra Pradesh government aims to train 1.5 lakh farmers in organic farming in the next three years . An Andhra Pradesh project Harita Priya , which collects very specific climate data from farms and give farmers personalised information through SMS , has won the World Summit on the Information Society ( WSIS ) 2016 prize in the e-Agriculture category .
Food Parks
The State Government is promoting value addition to the food products , and has planned to set up a major food park in 50 acres in each district . Likewise , the Farmers Producer Organization ( FPO ) is a novel concept being planned by the Government of Andhra Pradesh to help our farmers . The State plans to help 5 lakh farmers in 13 districts of the State to sell 25 products across India and market them globally through the FPO . v JUNE 2016 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE . ORG 19