AP Govt plans to construct 58 new onion storage structures

Amaravati: The government aimed to construct 58 new onion storage structures which have a capacity of 1,825 tonnes, explained the officials to Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu during the Collectors Conference on Tuesday at his residence at Undavalli in Guntur.

The Chief Minister was also informed that over the past year, Rs 97.29 crores were spent under the state plan for horticulture which was the highest in the country.

Officials informed Chandrababu Naidu on GVA contribution, that during 2018-19, Chillis contributed Rs. 10,433 crores to GVA. Banana contributed Rs.11,424 crores followed by Mango which made a contribution of Rs.6,074 crores. Prakasam, Kadapa and Anantapuram were the top three performers during this period under various Horticulture schemes.

``We need to encourage farmers towards entrepreneurship. They know the best about the crops hence if pushed in the right direction, it would be a great initiative. We need to aim for 25% growth in all the parameters. This will be challenging initially, but we can reach there, explained the Chief Minister.

K.S Jawahar Reddy, Principal Secretary (Rural Development) explained that the Panchayat Raj Information System (PRIS) is a dynamic recording and reporting tool which will assist in keeping track of major indicators in rural areas. Under PRIS, data of 87 lakh rural households are captured which would help in formulation of policies. Additionally, the tool would also assist in tax calculation and payment.

Out of the scheduled 56735 kms of concrete road to be laid, 39,116 kms of roads have already been completed as on by the end of March, across the rural areas.

Agriculture Department:
Chandrababu Naidu reviewed the progress and contribution of Agriculture to the state’s economy with West Godavari being the highest contributor in GVA followed by Guntur and Kurnool. To improve drought resilience for 1.65 lakh families, the Chief Minister was briefed on Andhra Pradesh Drought Mitigation Project (APDMP).

Briefing the Chief Minister with some additional features of Soil Health Cards, the officials informed that these cards will enable the holders to know about latest crop patterns. In terms of Soil Health Cards distributed, Krishna district topped with 2,12,212 cards followed by Guntur with 1,78,680 cards and Chittoor district with 1,74,641 cards.

Animal Husbandry
G K Dwivedi informed that during the 2018-19 period, GVA from milk has been Rs.34,856 crores followed by meat with Rs. 15,911 crores and eggs with Rs.3767 crores.

Fisheries
Officials informed that currently development of aqua culture creeks in Krishna and East Godavari district worth Rs.38.50 crores is in progress.
AP ranks first in terms of fisheries production in India with 23.52 lakh tonnes and also in shrimps export with 3.02 lakh tonnes.

Principal Secretary for Water Resources, Shashi Bhushan reported that out of the target projects, the interlinking of Vamsadhara to Nagavalli and Godavari to Penna are under progress. Out of 54 priority projects 8 have been inaugurated and 5 are ready for inauguration. The remaining will be completed by March 2019.

Bhushan requested collectors to fulfill land acquisition requirements of the projects and also finalise the kharif action plans for the coming season.
He said that Rehabilitation & Resettlement has witnessed fast and good progress. In Srikakulam, out of 6,936 PDFs of the Vamsadhara project, 6,675 have been rehabilitated.

B Ramanjaneyulu, Commissioner of PR&RD said that the state achieved 99.5% coverage of IHHL. Rs 4,560.33 crores have been spent on the ODF plan so far. The Chief Minister said that the state should be officially declared ODF on May 24, and awareness should be spread on ways to sustain the ODF status.