K Atchennaidu took charge as the minister for Agriculture, cooperation, marketing, animal husbandry, and fisheries at Velagapudi secretariat on Friday. He took charge as the vedic scholars chanted hymns and performed poojar in his chamber.
The minister signed on a new scheme, Polam Pilustondi, meaning farmland calling. The scheme would be rolled out on July 23 across the state. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu would launch the programme.
The officials from the agriculture department would visit the farmers on every Tuesday and Wednesday across the state. They would take complaints from the farmers and also give suggestions on the farming, and marketing. The interaction would be a continuous process, the minister said.
The minister further said that the farmers would be the happiest lot under the NDA government headed by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. He said that the chief minister had been taking steps to help the farmers. Agriculture is given highest priority in the NDA government, he said and added that the government would keep interacting with the farmers.
He came down heavily on the previous YSR Congress government for neglecting the agriculture sector. He said that the successive agriculture ministers did not meet the farmers even once in five years. He said that there was no water for irrigation and no price for the agriculture output. The farmers were not paid a remunerative price, he said.
Agriculture market yards were also neglected in the last five years, the minister said. He said that the entire agriculture, marketing and cooperative sectors were ignored by the YSR Congress government. The present government was working on restoring the departments and restoring the contact points for the officials and the farmers.
The present NDA government would be a source of strength for the farmers, Atchennaidu said. He said that the officials would visit the farmers at the house and the farm as well and give valuable suggestions on the cultivation. The soil tests would also be taken up on a regular basis, the minister said.
The Minister further said that the officials would guide the farmers from the purchase of seeds to the fertilisers and later at the sale of agricultural produce. They would guide the farmers in finding better markets for their produce, he said.
