AP to set up Insurance Corporation with Rs 1,500 crore

Tirupati: Minister for Agriculture and Cooperation K Kannababu has said that the State government will soon set up AP Insurance Corporation with Rs 1500 crore for the benefit of farmers.

As the insurance companies were not paying insurance amount even when farmers lose crops, the government wants to come to their rescue. However, to get the insurance e-crop booking has to be done properly, the Minister said.

He was addressing a review meeting in Tirupati on Sunday in which Chittoor District Collector Dr N Bharat Gupta, MP N Reddeppa, MLAs and other officials from Agriculture, Marketing, Food Processing and Cooperation participated.

The Minister said that the Chief Minister was very much biased towards farmers and the government was farmers' friendly one. He called upon the officials to work with the agenda of increasing farmers' income and come up with new ideas.

Kannababu has asked the Collector to take steps to arrest black marketing of tomato seeds in the district on which he had received complaints during the field visit. As the horticulture crops had dried up, the farmers should be compensated under critical irrigation.

Collector Bharat Gupta pointed out that as the district has borders with Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the local farmers look towards commercial horticulture crops as it would enable them to market their produce in the neighbouring States.

So far these crops have been raised in 32,000 hectares as against the target of 35,000 hectares. Farmers have been encouraged towards drip irrigation even in paddy cultivation.

He said that 4.16 lakh farmers' accounts were credited with Rs 327.01 crore under Rytu Bharosa scheme.

MLAs B Karunakar Reddy, C Bhaskar Reddy, K Adimulam, A Sreenivasulu and N Venkategouda also spoke. DCMS Chairman Sahadeva Reddy, DCCB Chairperson M Reddemma, District Cooperative Officer S Lakshmi, Agriculture JD N Vijayakumar and other officials were present.