Minister reviews district plan, asks officials for mandal- and village-level planning
GUNTUR, May 17: Union Minister of State (MoS) for Rural Development and Communications Pemmasani Chandrasekhar today asked officials to develop Guntur district as a model for modern and sustainable agriculture, directing the preparation of practical crop plans at mandal and village levels and a suite of measures to raise farm incomes and reduce input costs.
The review meeting at the Guntur District Collectorate saw the Minister outline a multi-pronged approach covering planning, farmer awareness, mechanisation and communication. Officials informed the delegation that the district comprises about 1,20,000 farmers and 30,000 tenant farmers, figures that the Minister said should guide the scale of outreach and interventions.
"Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh should be developed as a model for modern and sustainable agriculture."
Key directives and implementation steps
- Prepare and implement village-wise crop plans for every mandal and village to encourage systematic agricultural development.
- Develop at least one seed village in each mandal to improve seed availability and quality.
- Organise gram sabhas to raise awareness among farmers about scientific cultivation practices and available schemes.
- Establish an effective communication system to ensure timely delivery of information to all farmers, including the creation of a dedicated YouTube channel by the agricultural university for continuous mandal-wise guidance.
- Discourage stubble burning and promote farm mechanisation, including large-scale agricultural machinery exhibitions in every constituency.
- Host exhibitions involving companies and at least 10,000 farmers over three days in each constituency to showcase mechanisation and reduce dependence on manual labour.
- Encourage multi-cropping and measures to reduce cultivation costs to boost farmer incomes.
Officials to operationalise communication and demonstration activities
The Minister emphasised an integrated communication strategy so that advisory services reach both owner-cultivators and tenant farmers. He instructed agricultural authorities to coordinate with the agricultural university to run a dedicated YouTube channel that provides mandal-wise, continuous guidance. The channel is intended to supplement gram sabhas and field demonstrations, providing farmers with accessible, on-demand technical information.
On mechanisation, the Minister proposed constituency-level machinery exhibitions that would invite private companies to display equipment and interact directly with farmers. He specified that each exhibition should involve at least 10,000 farmers and run for three days, signalling a push to make mechanisation visible and locally accessible.
Environmental and income-focused measures
Officials were directed to take active steps to discourage stubble burning, recognising its environmental and health impacts. The Minister also underlined the need to reduce cultivation costs and promote multi-cropping to diversify farm incomes.
| Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| Number of farmers in Guntur district | 1,20,000 |
| Number of tenant farmers | 30,000 |
The meeting focused on practical, local-level measures and communication as immediate priorities. Officials were asked to translate the directives into actionable plans at mandal and village levels, with seed villages, gram sabhas, mechanisation demonstrations and a structured digital outreach forming the core of the proposed model for the district.
No timelines for the rollout of the specific interventions were provided at the meeting, and officials will be required to prepare the requested plans and follow-up steps for further review.
