Andhra Pradesh set to launch scheme for farmers, also include tenants

The government will pay Rs 6,500 as farm investment support to 47.7 lakh farmers who own five acres or less but as these farmers are already included in the PM-Kisan scheme, they will each receive a total of Rs 12,500 per annum. Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is likely to invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi to launch the scheme at Amaravati.

The YSRCP government had initially planned to give the farm investment support under YSR Rythu Bharosa separately, but later merged it with the PM-kisan scheme for the landowners.

The YSR Rythu Bharosa scheme is modelled on Telangana’s Rythu Bandhu scheme under which landowners get Rs 10,000 per acre, but Andhra Pradesh government has also decided to include tenant farmers.

“A total of 64.06 farmers in Andhra Pradesh, both landowners and tenants, are eligible for the YSR Rythu Bharosa scheme,’’ the minister stated.

Agriculture department officials said that while one tranche of Rs 4,000 (from a total of Rs 6,000 per annum) has already been received by each landowner under the PM-Kisan scheme, the state government will release its assured amount of Rs 6,500 to each landowner/farmer from October 15 while the tenant farmers will get Rs 12,500 each in a single tranche starting October 15.

The state government has set aside Rs 8,750 crore for the scheme. The verification and registration of tenant farmers had started in June, immediately after YSRCP formed the government. The tenant farmers are being issued separate identity cards which must be renewed every year to claim the benefit.

The government will also bear the entire expense of crop insurance premiums for approximately 60 lakh farmers for which an allocation of Rs 2,163 crore has been announced.