Rabi crop survey soon: Minister

Agriculture Minister N H Shivashankar Reddy said higher officials of Agriculture Department have been directed to conduct a survey on crop loss on Rabi season.

He told media persons here, “The survey cannot be conducted till December-end as per the Central government guidelines. Now that January month has started, I have directed the higher officials of the department to conduct the survey soon”.

The minister said the state government has submitted a report that a loss of Rs 16,000 crore has been incurred due to crop loss in monsoon season. So far, we have not received even a penny from the Centre. The compensation will be distributed among the farmers as soon as we get the funds, he added.

Reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comment on loan waiver, he said, “The loan waiver scheme is not a lollipop. This is a boon for farmers. So far, the scheme has benefited 60,000 farmers of the state. Some state governments in North India are following our model. This is a popular scheme. The BJP leaders, who do not tolerate this, are criticising us without reason”.

He said there are some complaints about Krishi Yantradhare scheme. But the Dharmasthala Rural Development Institute has implemented it successfully. The institute has been requested to implement the scheme properly, he said.