Clad in Telugu traditional panche kattu, agriculture minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy presented the agriculture budget in the state assembly.
For the past five years, AP government has been presenting a separate budget for the agriculture and allied sectors. However, it is first budget for Chandramohan Reddy, a veteran from Nellore district. Full of subsidies and allocations for mechanization, the budget had an outlay of Rs 19,070 crore.
While Rs 18,602 crore is the projected revenue expenditure, Rs 467.38 crore is capital expenditure. Reddy hoped to pool in Rs 4,730 crore from NREGS for agriculture. He spared Rs 1,042 crore for drought relief measures.
Laying focus on the modernization of agriculture sector, Reddy allocated Rs 450 crore for farm mechanization. He said the government will sanction tractors with a subsidy of Rs 2.5 lakh under Raithu Ratham scheme. He said credit facility has been extended as crop loans during 2017-18 to Rs 60,616 crore.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
