Agriculture Minister Kinjarapu Atchannaidu on Friday said that the State government has set a target of implementing drip irrigation in 3 lakh hectares in the Andhra Pradesh.
At a review meeting, Mr. Atchannaidu said that the previous YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government kept a bill of ₹1,167 crore pending. The State government has been clearing those bills with a sole objective of helping the farmers and implementing drip irrigation.
At present, the government will release ₹176 crore and the remaining amount would be released at the earliest. The government is prepared to provide subsidies for implementing the drip irrigation in 3 lakh hectares. It would benefit the farmers to an amount extending to ₹3,450 crore, he said. He also asked the officials to kickstart the process immediately and provide the equipments on subsidy.
The Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government failed to utilise the drip irrigation fund (micro-irrigation fund) facilitated through National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) by the Union government. During the tenure of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu from 2015 to 2018, Andhra Pradesh stood first in the country in the implementation of drip irrigation. A.P.’s share was 17.6 percent then, and it slipped to 5.7 percent during the YSRCP regime from 2019-23, he said. 55 percent of horticulture depends on drip irrigation, the Minister said, adding that the target should be to take it to 100 percent.
Horticulture, Fisheries Secretary Ahmed Babu, Horticulture Director Dr. K. Srinivasulu, Andhra Pradesh Micro Irrigation Project (APMIP) Project Officer B. Haranath Reddy and others were present.
