CM KCR to inaugurate Rythu Vedika today

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao will formally inaugurate the first of the 2,601 Rythu Vedika at Kodakandla in Jangaon district on Saturday.

The Rythu Vedikas, a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country, are essentially motivational platforms for farmers where they would get assistance from the government to get themselves organised into groups to secure remunerative prices for their produce, ensure higher productivity and make farming a profitable activity.

These platforms, coming up in each and every agriculture cluster across the State, will also facilitate regulated farming turn more remunerative based on global market intelligence, besides helping the government to know ground-level issues faced by farmers that would help in formulating new strategies to make agriculture more profitable and sustainable.

The State government has earmarked Rs 572.22 crore towards the total construction cost at Rs 22 lakh per Rythu Vedika. Of the total cost, Rs 12 lakh will be met by the Agriculture Department and the remaining Rs 10 lakh will be



met from MGNREGS funds. As per the design communicated by the Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Department, the Rythu Vedikas will include two rooms and two toilets with a plinth area of 2,046 sq feet.

In the 2020-21 budget, the State government allocated Rs 350 crore and took up construction of 2,601 Rythu Vedikas. Of these, 1,580 Rythu Vedikas have been completed as on Saturday and the remaining are in various stages of construction. While drinking water connections are being provided to Rythu Vedikas under Mission Bhagiratha, electricity connections are provided by the electricity department.

These platforms will serve multi-purpose activities including farmers interaction, training and awareness programmes on various activities including marketing, skill upgradation and usage of latest technology, among others. They will also double-up as platforms for holding discussions on crop cultivation for the season, pricing, ways and means to minimise influence of middlemen and also utilise them as godowns.