The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : State keen to cut interest on farm loans to 3 p.c. : YSR

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Friday, Jul 06, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

State keen to cut interest on farm loans to 3 p.c. : YSR

HYDERBAD: Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy has said that the Government was ‘fighting’ with Centre to ensure that farmers got loans at an interest rate of three per cent.

“Government is keen that the interest rate on farm loans comes down to three per cent as was done for the self help groups,” Dr. Reddy stated at a day-long farmer’s convention organised by the Kisan Kheth Mazdoor cell of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) here on Thursday.

Dr. Reddy noted that farmers in Andhra Pradesh were known to take risks while cultivating different crops. “It is better that farmers are cautious about the risk factors involved before cultivating a particular crop,” he said. Dr. Reddy explained how farmers in Prakasam and Guntur suffered due to excess production of groundnut and chillies that led to a slump in their prices. Earlier the PCC president K.Keshava Rao inaugurated the convention.

Boost to dairy

Government was encouraging farmers to take up allied activities such as dairying, poultry, fisheries and meat development, he said and added that 1.32 lakh improved breed animals would be purchased to improve the dairy sector. Stating that the seed village programme was yielding good results, he called upon the farmers to follow model farmers.

Rural Development Minister G. Chinna Reddy said the idea of market committees and cooperative central banks and cooperative marketing societies selling fertilisers and seeds was a good idea. He said plans were afoot to link watershed programmes with the National Rural Employment Guarantee programme.

Marketing Minister M. Mareppa said efforts were on to see that the prices of agricultural commodities and vegetables were same across all the markets in the State. The Cooperation Minister Md. Fareeduddin promised to bail out the sugarcane farmers, who had manufactured black jaggery. APCC Kisan cell chairman M. Kodanda Reddy spoke.

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Andhra Pradesh