The Andhra Pradesh Government has announced financial assistance of ₹ 10,000 to each farmer family per annum in the state as input subsidy.

Making the announcement at Amaravati on Wednesday after a cabinet meeting, Agriculture Minister S. Chandramohan Reddy said that "the Union Government has announced financial assistance of ₹ 6,000 to each family but we have hiked it to ₹ 10,000.

For those families covered under the central scheme, around 54-55 lakhs in the state, we will add ₹ 4,000 more and pay ₹ 10,000 - ₹ 5,000 for kharif season and ₹ 5,000 for rabi season. For those families which are not covered under the central scheme, we will bear the entire ₹ 10,000. All families will be covered, whereas the Union Government has set a ceiling of 5 acres."

He said the scheme - christened Annadata Sukhibhava (a Sanskrit saying which means "Let the food-giver be happy and prosperous" - would cover the tenant farmers. "The much-touted farmer assistance scheme introduced by the Telangana Government or the one introduced by the Centre do not cover tenant farmers. But we have thought of them also," he explained.

He said the state cabinet had also taken a decision to release the last instalment of ₹ 8,000 crore for the loan waiver scheme and in the vote-on-account budget ₹ 5,000 crore had been allocated for the Annadata Sukhibhava scheme.

He said the Centre would release ₹ 2,000 in February as assistance to identified farmers and the state government would add ₹ 3,000 more and credit to the accounts of farmers. "Though the state is passing through a financial crisis after bifurcation, we have introduced these schemes to support agriculture and farmers," he claimed.