Chandrababu Naidu promises to make farming profitable if TDP wins in Andhra Pradesh

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act will be linked to farming to address the serious problem of labour shortage, TDP national president Chandrababu Naidu tells farmers during an interaction with them at Markapur

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) will take a series of initiatives, including dovetailing of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act (MGNREGA) with the farmers, to make farming profitable if the party is voted to power in 2024, according to party national president and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.

Interacting with a large number of farmers at Markapur on Friday, Mr. Naidu said, “I will ensure that the wage employment scheme is linked to farming to address the serious problem of labour shortage faced by the farmers.”

“As son of a sugarcane grower, I know the hardships of fellow farmers. I will come out with several policy initiatives for the farmers to grow the right crop on the right land, bring appropriate technological interventions to cut costs and facilitate online marketing of farm produce to get the best price for the produce,” Mr. Naidu said amid loud cheers from the farmers of the drought-prone Prakasam district.

Noting that the farmers in the State were resorting to indiscriminate use of pesticides now, he said drones would be pressed into service to overcome the pest menace. Advocating organic farming, Mr. Naidu recalled that it was he who had brought Zero Based Natural Farming (ZBNF) of Subash Palekhar to Andhra Pradesh.

‘’A special mobile app will be launched to connect the growers, who are struggling to get even the minimum support price now for farm produce, with the buyers world-wide after doing away with middlemen so that they get a remunerative price,” he assured the agriculturists.

‘’The ‘one chance’ given to the YSRCP has proved to be costly as each farmer in the State is now saddled with an average debt of ₹2.50 lakh each with Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy neglecting agriculture,” Mr. Naidu opined.

He promised to complete the multi-crore Veligonda project on a war-footing. He recalled that 95% of the project work had been completed when the TDP demitted office in 2019. “Does the present Chief Minister need five years to complete the balance 5% of works?” he asked.