Prepare e-cropping norms: CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy

Amaravati: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy directed the officials to prepare guidelines for e-cropping, including crop planning, and e-marketing requirements of farmers taking Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBK) as a unit for each agriculture season.

During a review meeting on e-cropping and e-marketing held here on Monday, the Chief Minister said the mapping of crops under each RBK should be done and Advisory Boards at district and mandal levels should be formed to help in preparing the crop plan to ensure balanced output without glut of any product.

The e-cropping should be more comprehensive and must carry the details of the crop each farmer is sowing in the season and the details should be displayed at RBKs and village secretariats. The seeds should be made available as per the crop plan.

An e-platform should also be created for the sale of agriculture produce and government will directly buy 30 per cent of the produce from the farmers and the e-marketing will ensure the sale of the remaining produce.

Grading and packing facilities should be provided at village level and quality standards should be adhered to for better movement of the produce, he said. For e-marketing to be successful, quality of agriculture products, timely payment to farmers and transportation are the main parameters and serious thought should be given to them, he said.

The Chief Minister said that grading and packing facilities should be available in all the 10, 641 RBKs by this kharif season and this would help for the intake of Janata Bazaars that would come up in future. In the coming days, work on godowns and cold storages should begin and necessary permissions should be acquired. He asked the officials to submit an action plan to this effect.

The meeting was attended by AP Agriculture Mission vice-chairman M V S Nagi Reddy, chief advisor to Chief Minister Ajay Kallam and other officials took part in the review.