Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh’s budget allocations of Rs 43,402.33 crore for agriculture and allied sectors focus on two major sectors: Kisan drone technology and digital agriculture.

Agriculture Minister K Atchannaidu and Municipal Administration Minister P Narayana presented the budget for agriculture and allied sectors in the state assembly and legislative council on Monday.

Kisan Drone technology will be introduced in the agriculture sector from this year. Under this, personalized Kisan Drone recruitment centers will be created. Drones will help farmers in plant protection as well as spraying herbicides with 25 percent reduced dosage to save input expenses and increase net income.

The use of drones is expected to save time and enable greater area coverage. Drones will also be used to sow seeds and spray liquid fertilizers. The state government plans to install Drone CHCs in all villages in the state within three years, it was said.

The Agriculture Minister said the state government plans to set up 875 CHC Drone at a cost of Rs 87.50 crore in its first phase in 2024-25. Farmers and rural youth are trained in drone piloting, maintenance and upkeep at Acharya NG Ranga University and DROGO Drones Pvt Ltd.

Atchannaidu said that to provide scientific technology in a more efficient manner, the state government is providing digitalization services to farmers.

These include: e-Panta, the AGRISNET portal, the D-Krishi application which uses a biometric method to distribute subsidized seeds to eligible farmers, Crop Life System, the pest and disease monitoring reporting application, the agro-advice portal, the INSIGHT application to check quality transparency. monitoring of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, collection of samples and testing of agricultural inputs, the Agri Stack Initiative aimed to create a special database for farmers’ land records and details of sown crops.

The government would enact the new Tenancy Act this year, to introduce reforms in the identification of eligible tenants and issue tenant rights cards to all eligible tenants to provide them with hassle-free agricultural loans as well as welfare schemes. social protection.

“We would also introduce ‘Vaddi Leni Runalu and Pavala Vaddi’ scheme from 2024 to 2025 to all farmers who avail farm loans up to Rs 3 lakh and repay them within a year.”

The state government, the minister said, has designed a new comprehensive water policy to facilitate availability of water to all users on priority basis to meet their domestic, agricultural, industrial, aquatic and others. The Polavaram Irrigation Project would be completed with a revised estimate of 55,548.87 crores as the project cost.

The state government would take up and complete the Chintalapudi Lift Irrigation Project, Interconnection of Godavari and Penna Rivers in Phase 1, BRR Vamsadhara Project Phase 11, Poola Subbaiah Veligonda Project, Handri Project Niva Sujala Sravanthi. etc. It aims to upgrade the Budameru Canal to protect farmers’ crops from flooding. This would involve a cost of 3,300 crores.