The State government on Tuesday announced a new scheme for the welfare of the farmers.

In his vote-on-account speech, Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu said he was allocating ₹5,000 crore to ‘Annadata Sukhibhava’ for this financial year.

Under the crop loan waiver scheme (‘Annadata Ki Apatbandavudu’), the Finance Minister said farmers’ loan of ₹24,000 crore had been waived and the final two instalments would also be credited to their accounts soon.

Minister for Agriculture Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy, addressing the media later, said ₹8,000 crore would be credited to the loan accounts of the farmers towards the fourth and fifth instalment of the loan waiver scheme.

Mr. Ramakrishnudu further said that ₹384 crore had been credited to 2.23 lakh loan accounts of the horticulture farmers.

The government enhanced the market intervention fund from ₹500 crore to ₹1,000 crore for crops that did not have Minimum Support Price, the Finance Minister said. For the first time in the country, the State government issued a ‘certificate of cultivation’ to the tenant farmers to enable them to avail institutional credit and crop insurance, farm implements and input subsidy, Mr. Ramakrishnudu said.

The loan extended to the tenant farmers could thus be increased from ₹272 crore covering 1.34 lakh farmers in 2014-15 to ₹4,957 crore covering 11.06 lakh farmers in 2018-19.

Drought-proofing

Despite rainfall deficit of 33% in 2018-19, drought-proofing initiatives ensured that the agriculture sector grew by 15%, he said.

Andhra Pradesh allocated ₹81,554 crore for agriculture and farmers’ welfare in the last four-and-a-half years, he added.