Telangana to have special farm budget, divide cultivable land into clusters

Higher outlay for sector on cards, 5,000-acre cluster size conceived to improve cropping, marketing

The Telangana government will present a special budget for agriculture from next year with enhanced budgetary allocations for the sector.

Besides this, the entire farmland in the state would be divided into 2,500 clusters with a standard size of 5,000 acres each for better crop planning, marketing assistance among other governmental support to the farming community, chief minister K Chandrasekhara Rao said.

The new initiatives for the farm sector come after the completion of a Rs 17,000-crore farm-loan waiver earlier this year. Keen on maintaining his administration's image of a farmer-friendly government, the chief minister recently announced a fertiliser subsidy of Rs 8,000 per acre for two crop seasons starting next year.

"Under a united Andhra Pradesh, farmers from Telangana farmers were deceived and were distressed for irrigation water even though their region falls between two mighty rivers. Hence we have focused on agriculture and the irrigation sectors and are already seeing the results," Rao said.

In an experiment to ensure better prices for farm produce, the government has decided to create farmers' associations and their apex bodies to act as facilitators between the cultivator and the trader for fixing the minimum support price for each agriculture commodity.

The farmers' associations will also be given permits to buy the farm produce in addition to funding support as an intervention when market prices fall below MSP.

On ensuring irrigation facilities, the chief minister said, "We began construction of the projects to supply water to 10 million acres of land. Under Mission Kakatiya we are reviving the tanks. And the existing nine-hour power supply to farm sector will be enhanced to 24 hours a day in future."

The state government is also taking steps such as creation of farm clusters and farm colonies to plan crop cultivation based on the population needs and the market demand, according to the chief minister.