Darsi: Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu launched the PM Kisan-Annadatha Sukhibhava scheme, part of the Super Six welfare initiatives, in a symbolic ceremony held amidst verdant fields in East Veerayapalem village of Darsi mandal in Prakasam district on Saturday.

Launching the Rs 3,175 crore statewide initiative, the Chief Minister handed over a cheque to two farmers as a symbolic gesture and another Rs 29 crore cheque specific to Darsi constituency, according to a video link shared by the government. "No other thing gives me this much happiness. Sitting in a field under the sun we transferred Rs 7,000, including central funds. This is history," said Naidu, addressing farmers in the middle of a field.

After the conclusion of the live telecast of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech from Varanasi at the launch of the PM Kisan programme at the national level, Chandrababu Naidu interacted with farmers, women, youth, and locals at the launch of Annadatha Sukhibhava-PM Kisan programme. He mentioned that the scheme marked the fulfillment of the coalition government’s election promise to provide Rs 20,000 annually to farmers in three installments.

Clubbing the Centre's contribution of Rs 6,000 under PM-Kisan and the state's contribution of Rs 14,000, Andhra Pradesh aims to disburse Rs 20,000 per annum to eligible farmers under the Annadatha Sukhibhava-PM Kisan scheme in three installments.

The Chief Minister said that in the first phase, Rs 7,000 was being transferred to the bank accounts of 46,85,838 farmers across the state. He explained that the benefit includes Rs 5,000 as the state’s contribution and Rs 2,000 from the central government under the PM Kisan scheme. He said that the total outlay for this phase amounted to Rs 3,175 crore, with the state government allocating Rs 2,343 crores and the Centre contributing Rs 832 crore. For Prakasam district alone, Rs 186 crore had been earmarked, benefiting 2,65,317 farmers, while the Darsi Assembly constituency would receive Rs 29 crore towards 42,786 beneficiary farmers, with Darsi mandal getting Rs 7.36 crore towards 10,972 farmers.

Chandrababu Naidu observed that he could see pervasive happiness among farmers and remarked: “The farmer is always a king.” The Chief Minister announced plans to provide technological knowledge to farmers, including crop advisory services based on scientific studies. Soon, farmers could access scheme-related information through the Annadatha Sukhibhava portal or by calling the toll-free number 155251.

Chandrababu Naidu highlighted significant achievements in agricultural modernization, while appreciating that Andhra Pradesh ranked first nationally in drip irrigation coverage.

He amplified that the government had expanded drip irrigation to 1,17,880 hectares, benefiting 1.11 lakh farmers with subsidies ranging from 70 per cent to 100 per cent, based on region and caste categories. The Chief Minister told farmers that the government had introduced 875 Kisan drones for agricultural services and had plans to procure an additional 1,000 drones. He explained to them that market interventions had ensured remunerative prices for various crops, with the government paying Rs 273 crore for tobacco, Rs 172 crore for mango farmers, while fixing Rs 11,781 per quintal as the minimum selling price for chillies.

Referring to the sudden spike in American taxes on Indian merchandise, Naidu said these duties would hurt aquaculture farmers and promised to chart out an action plan on how to deal with this matter after meeting with aquaculture representatives in a few days. Stating that the US had hiked duties by 25 per cent, Naidu said this would affect Indian farmers. Considering these factors, the CM said, he would guide farmers on what crop to plant and how to go further.