Telangana’s agriculture sector gets big boost with pro-farmer initiatives
Hyderabad: From parched lands to frequent drought situations, farmers across Telangana used to face untold miseries due to complete neglect of the agriculture sector by rulers in undivided Andhra Pradesh. But after separate Telangana was carved out, the TRS government accorded top priority to the agriculture sector and came up with a slew of pro-farmer […]
Hyderabad: From parched lands to frequent drought situations, farmers across Telangana used to face untold miseries due to complete neglect of the agriculture sector by rulers in undivided Andhra Pradesh.
But after separate Telangana was carved out, the TRS government accorded top priority to the agriculture sector and came up with a slew of pro-farmer initiatives resulting in significant growth of agriculture and allied activities in the State.
Since agriculture is the backbone of rural development in the State, the government has been relentlessly striving to drive the sector’s growth and increase farmers’ income apart from focusing on their welfare.
As part of its endeavour, the government is promoting agriculture sector comprising crops, horticulture, livestock and fisheries through various policy initiatives by improving irrigation infrastructure through flagship initiatives such as Kaleshwaram project and Mission Kakatiya, supplying free 24×7 power to farmers, providing investment support to farmers under Rythu Bandhu, enabling access to inputs, markets and credit, and providing life insurance under Rythu Bima.
Investment support
Overall, agriculture production of the State has increased because of the support provided through various farmer-friendly initiatives. An amount of Rs 14,651 crore was disbursed under Rythu Bandhu during 2020-21 to around 59 lakh farmers for investment support.
Success of Rythu Bandhu scheme was such that in 2020, 90 per cent of the beneficiaries were marginal and small farmers (farmers with landholdings less than 4.94 acres) and only 0.1 per cent were large farmers. This highlights how the scheme has benefited the farmers who need investment support the most.
Paddy and cotton production has increased significantly and they continue to dominate as major crops produced in the State.
Since the government has encouraged cultivation of other crops, the State is now a leading producer of spices and horticulture crops like turmeric, chillies and oil palm. Recognising the importance of livestock for contributing to rural incomes, the government has encouraged livestock production through sheep distribution programme and livestock products like eggs, meat, wool and milk.
Insurance scheme
Rythu Bima, the farmer’s group life insurance scheme, provides an essential lifeline to agricultural households struck by tragedy. The government is also supporting agriculture investment by increasing credit disbursal to farmers.
According to Telangana Socio-Economic Outlook 2021 report, agriculture and its allied activities are integral to Telangana’s development. Not only does the sector help ensure food security, it also provides livelihoods to more than half of the State’s workforce (around 55 per cent of the workforce in the State is engaged in agriculture and allied activities).
Agriculture sector output, which includes crop, livestock, forestry, and fisheries production, has grown in recent years. In 2020-21, Gross Value Added (GVA) in the agriculture sector grew by 20.9 per cent, one of the highest growth rates in India and significantly greater than India’s GVA agriculture growth of three per cent.
The Gross Value Output (GVO) from major crops’ production (paddy, maize, cotton, groundnut, redgram, bengalgram and soyabean) in 2020-21 was Rs 47,125 crore, an increase of 20.9 per cent from 2019-20.
Livestock production is also growing rapidly in the State. In 2018-19, the share of livestock production in the State’s agriculture GVA (50.2 per cent) overtook crop production’s share in agriculture GVA (42.98 per cent).
The trend has continued in 2020-21, where livestock output, driven by improved dairy and meat production, contributed to more than half of the total growth in the sector, the report said.
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