Rythu Bandhu comes as breather to marginal, small farmers

Help on time: A farmer couple returning home after the days work in Nalgonda.

Help on time: A farmer couple returning home after the days work in Nalgonda.   | Photo Credit: SINGAMVENKATARAMANA

Farmers from this group constitute 85% of beneficiaries of the government aid

The Rythu Bandhu scheme, a first of its kind initiative providing investment support to farmers to be launched on Thursday, is expected to provide the much needed breather to the marginal and small farmers who constitute a major chunk of land owners in the State.

With less than a month left for the commencement of the crop season, these farmers will get the initial support to take up their agriculture operations without any hassles.

According to official figures, the State has 40.92 lakh marginal farmers with land owning of less than 2.5 acres while the small farmers with holdings between 2.5 acres and 5 acres constitute another 11.02 lakh out of the total 57.4 lakh beneficiaries for whom the scheme is being launched.

Farmers in Nalgonda district with 29.63 lakh marginal and 92,407 small farmers will receive the maximum benefits under the scheme while Medchal-Malkajgiri district with 27,024 marginal and 3,756 small farmers is at the bottom.

The number of farmers in Mahbubnagar (2.29 lakh), Khammam (2.05 lakh), Ranga Reddy (2.03 lakh), Sangareddy (2.26 lakh) and Siddipet (2.01 lakh) too account for a significant chunk of marginal farmers.

There are around 4.44 lakh farmers with more than five acres with Nalgonda having a maximum of 39,909. Another 94,551 farmers have holdings in excess of 10 acres.

About 6,488 farmers have lands in excess of 25 acres with Sangareddy accounting for the highest number of 644 closely followed by Ranga Reddy (637), according to the statistics.

Given the huge number of marginal and small farmers among the beneficiaries, the government has taken adequate precautions to ensure that no inconvenience is caused to farmers in terms of cash withdrawals.

Senior officials said there was absolutely no pressure on the government as sufficient reserves had already been positioned for the successful implementation of the scheme.

Adequate cash reserves are made available in all the branches of eight designated banks which have been chosen for distribution of cheques. β€œThe Reserve Bank of India has confirmed that cash had been dispatched to chests in all the designated branches,” a senior Finance Department official told The Hindu.