Telangana govt's Rythu Vedika scheme to address farmers' issues all set to be launched

HYDERABAD: The Telangana government's Rythu Vedika initiative to address the issues faced by farmers will be launched on Saturday. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will inaugurate the Rythu Vedika at Kodakandla mandal headquarters town in Jangaon district.

Rythu Vedika is an initiative to bring farmers under one platform and help them attain higher returns. The government plans to construct as many as 2,601 Rythu Vedikas in the state, of which 1,580 were completed till Friday.

The government earmarked Rs 572.22 crores towards the total construction cost at Rs 22 lakh per Rythu Vedika. Of the total cost, Rs 12 lakh will be met by the agriculture department and the remaining Rs 10 lakh will be met from MNREGS funds.

"Rythu Vedikas will help in mobilising the farmers to organise themselves into groups for attaining their ultimate objective of getting remunerative prices, better marketing facilities, higher productivity and ultimately making agriculture profitable," an official explained.

The platforms will help farmers meet frequently to discuss their problems and materialise their plans in selling their produce. It will also help farmers to organise themselves into a group for protecting their rights, officials added.

It will facilitate the government to know the ground level problems and difficulties faced by the farmers, formulate new strategies and upgrade the existing system to make agriculture sustainable. The platforms will be used as skill imparting centres by the agriculture and allied departments. Each Rythu Vedika will have two rooms and two toilets with a plinth area of 2,046 sq feet.

Around 27 Rythu Vedikas were constructed with the money received from donors. Land was received from donors for 139 Rythu Vedikas. Mission Bhagiratha will provide tap water to Rythu Vedikas.