Yanamala Ramakrishnudu blames jagan for deepening crisis in agriculture

Mangalagiri: Former Minister and senior TDP leader Yanamala Ramakrishnudu on Sunday held the Jagan Mohan Reddy government's 'anti-farmer' policies responsible for the deepening crisis and steep fall in agricultural growth rate in the State.

Yanamala expressed concern that both agriculture and its allied sectors were caught in a steep crisis. As a result, the percentage of population dependent on agriculture fell from 70 per cent to 50 per cent, which was an alarming fall of -20 per cent. All round problems have made the lives of cultivators very difficult to lead in Andhra Pradesh. They were getting stuck in debts and losses. The growth rate also went down by over -4.9 percent under the Jagan Reddy rule.

In a statement here, the Opposition Leader in the Legislative Council said that the agriculture and allied sectors recorded double digit growth under Naidu's regime. It touched 10.5 per cent during 2017-18 and 2018-19 whereas, the growth rate came down to 6.04 per cent under the YSRCP rule, which was a fall by -4.9 per cent when compared to the previous regime.

Aquaculture growth rate fell from 27.4 per cent to 6.9 per cent under the present rule, which was a fall by -20.5 per cent. Horticulture growth rate was 17.7 per cent during the Naidu's rule and it fell to just 4.4 per cent under the Jagan rule, a fall by -6.9 per cent.

Yanamala said that there was no growth even in the animal husbandry development. There was a downtrend going on in the development of industries and services relating to agriculture and allied sectors. This was having an adverse impact on the creation of work opportunities in these sectors. There were no remunerative prices to the crops at the end of the season. The farmers were not getting returns for their hard work, sweat and blood. As a result, the production of foodgrains came down drastically in AP, which fell by 3 per cent in 2020-21 when compared to 2019-20.

The TDP leader deplored that the fixing of meters on agricultural motors would amount to hanging a noose round the necks of farmers. Payments were not being made in time to the crops purchased from the farmers. The farmers were stuck in debts as their payments were kept pending for six to nine months. Food inflation was recorded at an alarming 12.5 per cent. The farmers were declaring crop holidays all over the State due to the indifferent policies of the government and rising costs of cultivation.

Export of agriculture allied sector produce came down steeply.

Not a single food processing industry came to AP in the past two-and-half years whereas the Chief Minister was acting like an ambassador to Gujarat Amul.

The reverse rule of Jagan Reddy had crushed the AP people financially and pushed the State into a retrogressive mode.

The TDP leader said that the aqua farmers in coastal region and horticulture farmers in Rayalaseema region were incurring heavy losses. Even the subsidies on drip and agricultural implements were cancelled under the present regime.