Dr YV Malla Reddy gets YSR Lifetime Achievement Award

Anantapur: Dr YV Malla Reddy, the Director of Accion Fraterna Ecology Centre, bagged the prestigious YSR Lifetime Achievement Award for rainfed agriculture and for his life-long dedication to taking drought-mitigation measures while providing alternative livelihoods to the rainfed farmers. AP Governor S Abdul Nazeer and Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy gave the award to Malla Reddy at a programme at A Convention Centre in Vijayawada on Wednesday.

Hailing from Nirukuntlapalli village in Gandlapenta Mandal of Sri Sathya Sai district, Yarragonda Venkata Malla Reddy has a vast and comprehensive understanding of the problems faced by the drought-prone rainfed farmers in Rayalaseema region. He studied the root causes of consecutive droughts and the measures necessary for drought prevention and he has been working as the Director of Accion Fraterna Ecology Centre since 1998 and turned it into an effective organisation in drought prevention.

Dr Malla Reddy, who has been working hard to establish ‘Ananta Water Grid’ in Anantapur district for the past 30 years, opines that ‘if each waterbody in every village in the district is interlinked and filled with river water, they will serve as multi-purpose projects, sustaining agriculture, environment and rural livelihoods.’ His dream came partially true with filling of water bodies with Handri Neeva and Tungabhadra Project water. He another suggestion is ‘Conjunctive Water Use’, which is instead of relying only on borewells, a farmer should first use rainwater, then surface water and finally groundwater in an integrated manner to grow crops.