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