Minister for Agriculture S. Niranjan Reddy has stated that a record 1.3 crore tonnes of foodgrains were produced in Telangana during the 2019-20 agriculture year and it had become possible with several proactive measures taken by the State government to improve the irrigation facilities, extending support in the form of Rythu Bandhu and ensuring availability of other inputs in time.

Speaking after laying foundation stone for the construction of Rythu Vedika buildings in Gopalpet and Revalli mandals in Wanaparthy district on Friday, he said the turnaround of Telangana becoming a model State had come in the matter of just six years after formation of the State in 2014. He noted that Telangana had emerged as the new rice bowl of the country with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) getting paddy levy of 52.23 lakh tonnes from the State alone from out of a total of 83.01 lakh tonnes of levy collected in the country during the 2019-20 agriculture year.

Stating that the government had taken to construction of Rythu Vedikas to mobilise the farming community into an organised force and reach a position of dictating the market and commanding the price for their produce, the Minister said villages would sustain and provide wage employment only if the farmers continue with their profession. Towards the objective of making the farming community debt-free, the State government had been implementing several welfare measures such as Rythu Bandhu, loan waiver and others.

On the disbursement of Rythu Bandhu support, the Minister said ₹6,888.43 crore was credited into the accounts of 54.22 lakh farmers for their landholding of about 1,33,77,000 acres land in three days.