Infrastructure Projects Should Be Made Available To Farmers, Agriculture Allied Sectors: AP C YS Jagan

Amaravati: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy held a review meeting on progress of Agri Infra projects and directed the officials to ensure significant progress in infrastructure development projects in the agricultural sector this year. 

The Chief Minister reviewed on fundraising and tie-ups related to 15 various projects including Dry Storage - Drying platforms, warehouses, infrastructure in horticulture, primary processing centers, assaying equipment, procurement centers, e-marketing, mega custom hiring hubs, custom hiring centers at RBK level, combined harvesters in paddy grown districts, MACs-BMCs, Aqua Infra, Fishing Harbors-Fish Landing Centers, Food Processing Centers and Infrastructure in Animal Husbandry Department. The State government has been spending about Rs 16,320.83 crore for these projects. 

During the review meeting, the Chief Minister said the infrastructure development projects should be made available to farmers and Agriculture allied sectors very soon to ensure additional income to farmers. He said change must be felt at ground level and added that construction of all types of structures including warehouses should be expedited. He said there is good demand for organic and natural farming products across the globe and the farmers should take advantage of these opportunities. He said a custom hiring center on organic farming should be setup at every RBK level by next year and directed the officials to create awareness among famers on it. He directed the officials to arrange machinery and equipment required for organic and natural farming at every RBK and said to ensure better rate for products of organic and natural farming methods and come up with a policy to provide incentives to farmers who use of organic and natural farming methods. 

The officials informed the Chief Minister that they have almost completed land acquisition for construction of godowns and 1,165 godowns are being constructed. They said construction of godowns has started at 278 locations and added that equipment for measuring weight and moisture are being made available to prevent farmers from being cheated. During the review on agricultural machinery, tools and equipment being made available to farmers under YSR Yantra Seva scheme, the officials informed the Chief Minister that they have made 3,497 units available for farmers. They said the state government has been setting up seeds and millet primary processing centers at 33 locations on the basis of parliamentary constituencies and these processing centers will be made available from Kharif 2022 and added farmers who are cultivating cereals and pulses can make good use of these units. They said processing will help to get good prices to the farmers and also the products will be of good quality and added that raw materials will be provided for secondary processing units and those in related businesses. 

The officials informed the Chief Minister that the process of setting up 13 secondary processing units is on fast track. They said they have readied 175 ambulances for Animals, one in each constituency and they are scheduled to start in March. They said 28,00,502 liters of milk was being collected per month in about 1,100 villages under Jagananna Palavelluva scheme and 2.03 crore liters of milk were collected so far. They said Rs 86.58 crore was paid to farmers so far and additional benefit to them is Rs.14.68 crore. They said Amul will start the collection of milk in the Visakhapatnam district next month and it will also open dairy products units in Chittoor, Krishna and Visakhapatnam. 

The officials informed the Chief Minister that they are providing around 80,000 jobs directly and indirectly through Aqua hubs and spokes. They said 70 aqua hubs and 14,000 spokes will be set up by June across the state and the target of setting up three pre-processing plants and ten processing plants is in process and added that they have setup nine societies in this regard. They informed the Chief Minister that the works related to fishing harbors in Juvvaladinne, Nizampatnam and Machilipatnam are in progress and they will expedite the works in Uppada also and added that they will make efforts to complete the works within four months. They said works in Pudimadaka, Biyyaputhippa, Odarevu and Kottapatnam will start in second phase and complete them by the end of December 2022.

Agri Mission Vice Chairman MVS Nagi Reddy, Chief Secretary Dr Sameer Sharma, Agriculture Special Chief Secretary Poonam Malakondaiah, Industries Special Chief Secretary Karikal Valevan and other officials were present in the meeting.

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