Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy during the Rythu Bharos fund release in Siddipet on Sunday.
Hyderabad
The first tranche of Rythu Bharosa funds was released by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Sunday during the ‘Rythu Utsaval’ at Narmetta in Nangunur, Siddipet district. He had earlier promised that a total amount of ₹ 9,000 crore would be released in three phases within 45 days to 70 lakh farmers.
The chief minister said the first tranche of payment, ₹3,600 crore, would be credited on Monday (March 22), another ₹5,400 crore would be released in the next 20 days and the remaining in the next 20 days.
Mr. Reddy claimed that during the 10-year rule of K. Chandrasekhar Rao, the state spent an average of ₹ 2,533 crore per month on farmers, while the Congress government spent ₹ 5,500 crore per month on agriculture and farmers’ welfare in the last 28 months. In the last two years alone, more than ₹1,00,000 has been spent on farmers.
The CM said that Telangana has become the number one paddy producer in the country. This season alone, the state has procured 71 million metric tonnes of paddy, even as the Center has not acquired more than 50 million metric tonnes.
Crop diversification
Stressing the need for crop diversification, Mr. Reddy said agriculture must evolve beyond rice cultivation. “Earlier, different regions grew different crops. Orchards were common around Hyderabad. We need to encourage farmers to diversify and adopt crop rotation in all areas,” he said.
He also said that oil palm cultivation has expanded to three lakh acres in the state and assured that even if the cultivation increased to 10 lakh acres, the government would procure the production. He urged Agriculture Minister Tummal Nageswara Rao to explore the possibility of setting up a similar unit in Kodangal.
Mr. Reddy called for replication of the Ankapur model of profitable farming in 12,728 gram panchayats in Telangana. The government, he said, will facilitate export opportunities in international markets to ensure that every crop grown in Telangana is profitable.
Lack of fertilizers?
Referring to the possibility of fertilizer shortage amid global conflicts, he said the state would coordinate with the Center and seek additional supply of urea from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Ministers Damodar Raja Narasimha, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Ponnam Prabhakar and Vivek Venkatswamy, Government Advisor Sudarshan Reddy, MPs Raghunandan Rao and Vem Narender Reddy were also present.
Published – 22 March 2026 21:30 IST
