Vijayawada Mar 18 :Andhra Pradesh government has spent Rs 28,430 crore for procurement of agriculture produce since the new government was formed headed by Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy held a review meeting on procurement of Rabi produce of 2020-21 and preparations for Kharif 2021–22 at camp office here on Thursday. The officials informed the Chief Minister that a total of Rs 28,430 crore has been spent on crop procurement since YSRCP formed the government. Of this, Rs 22,918 crore was spent on procuring paddy and Rs 5,512 crore on other crops.

The Chief Minister said that the Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBK) should work to fulfill all the requirements of the farmers and ensure they are not migrated from villages. He said quality seeds, pesticides and fertilisers should reach the farmers within the stipulated time as soon as they have been ordered through RBKs.

The Chief Minister made it clear that the seeds to be distributed for kharif should be of good quality. He asked the officials to create awareness among farmers through Agriculture assistants on varieties of brinjal that are of interest in the market and can get good price and added that a poster should be prepared in this regard so that marketing opportunities would be improved. He said to ensure all these details are available online.

The Officials apprised the Chief Minister that procurement of Rabi crop produce under 6,081 RBKs has been started. The Chief Minister directed the officials to prepare a crop plan for every village taking RBK as an unit and added that these plans should be sent to every RBK and their posters should be displayed in RBKs.

Agriculture Minister Kurasala Kannababu, Agriculture Mission Vice Chairman MVS Nagi Reddy, Agriculture Special Chief Secretary Poonam Malakondaiah, Civil Supplies Commissioner Kona Shashidhar, Special Secretary for Marketing and Cooperation Y Madhusudhan Reddy, Agriculture Marketing Commissioner MD Suryakumari, and other officials were present.(UNI)