AP Govt successfully dealt with drought: Chandrababu Naidu

Amaravati: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said the state government successfully dealt with drought situation and achieved impressive growth rate in agriculture sector.

Speaking in Assembly on Wednesday, the Chief Minister said that the growth rate in agriculture sector increased to 17.76 per cent this year from 14.91 per cent in 2016-17 while the national average was only 9 per cent. He said the agriculture and allied sectors registered six times productivity compared with before 2014.

The Chief Minister said the state government was focusing on introducing mechanisation and latest technology in the agriculture and giving priority to horticulture. He said 34.4 lakh soil health cards were distributed to the farmers and 70,385 metric tonnes of micro nutrients were distributed at 100 per cent subsidy to discourage the use of chemical fertilisers.

The state was at top in cultivating maize, second place in paddy and fourth place in cotton, he said and added that ground water levels in state had increased by 1.6 metre due to digging of 6.50 lakh farm ponds across the state. He also said the government facilitated drip irrigation facility to 3.80 lakh acre.

As part fight against drought, Naidu said, the state government had focused on linking of rivers. “The government had successfully linked Godavari with River Krishna and provided Godavari water to Krishna delta. Similarly, the Krishna water were diverted to Rayalaseema region through Srisailam project to provide irrigation to drought-prone region,” he said. He said Rs 5 lakh each would be given to the families of farmers who commits suicide.

Naidu also said the government was contemplating to give water to Krishna and Godavari delta by June this year to facilitate early crop in kharif session. The government waived farmers’ loans to the tune of Rs 24,000 crore under loan waive scheme which provided a huge relief to them, he added. 

The Chief Minister said 1,978 farmers had committed suicides in the last 10 years. “The state government has taken several measures to prevent farmer suicides. We successfully dealt with drought in the state and we have learnt how to prevent drought conditions,” he said.

Earlier, agriculture minister Sommireddy Chandra Mohan Reddy said the state government was working with ‘farmers first’ policy and is giving top priority to agriculture sector. He said the government allocated Rs 3,000 crore for farmers insurance scheme and 12,800 tractors were distributed as part of efforts to increase mechanisation in the agriculture.

He said the state had allocated Rs 720 crore for micro irrigation project. The minister also said the government was ready to procure 1.30 lakh tonne red gram from farmers though the Centre had given permission to buy only 1,200 tonnes.