Minister for Agriculture and Co-operation K. Kannababu stated that the government has sent experts to Telangana, Gujarat and Karnataka for sourcing quality seeds of various crops and make them available to the distressed farmers at subsidised prices.
The government was taking necessary steps to clear farmers’ dues of paddy procurement which stood at approximately ₹ 980 crore, and ₹ 380 crore to Markfed and A.P. State Seeds Development Corporation, he said, in a press conference at the Secretariat on Tuesday.
“We have procured and distributed 3.08 lakh quintals of groundnut seed while the demand was 4.41 lakh quintals for Kharif season. The TDP Government had distributed only 2.80 lakh quintals last season,” Mr. Kanna Babu said, holding it responsible for the agriculture sector’s distress.
Govt’s. top priority
The Minister said Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy gave clear directions to make enough quantity of seeds available to the farmers, soon after he took charge on May 30. Accordingly, the government accorded top priority to meeting the demand for seeds.
When the YSR Congress formed the government, the State had a stock of only 50,000 quintals of groundnut seed. The government achieved good progress in distributing paddy seeds to the farmers, with due focus on the backward areas in north Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema. Mr. Kannababu said copra was being purchased at procurement centres in Ambajipeta, Kothapeta, Nagaram, Tatipaka and Mummidivaram in East Godavari district at prices ranging from ₹9,200 to nearly ₹10,000 per quintal.
Minister for Water Resources P. Anil Kumar said the government laid due emphasis on the inter-linking of rivers and completing the pending irrigation projects. It was working in that direction with the cooperation of neighbouring States where some issues were to be sorted out.