The scheme sees investment support amount of Rs. 13,500 per annum deposited into the bank accounts of the farmers directly.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy launched the YSR Rythu Bharosa - PM Kisan Program on the eve of World Food Day and eight months earlier than the promised day.
The scheme sees investment support amount of Rs. 13,500 per annum deposited into the bank accounts of the farmers directly.
He also promised free nine-hour power supply to all farmers by July.
Speaking after launching the flagship program at Vikrama Simhapuri University on Tuesday, Jagan said that he had promised during the plenary session held in July 2017 and during the 3,648-km padayatra and the subsequent brainstorming sessions with farmers' associations and others, that Rs 50,000 would be given to farmers as investment support in the month of May as Rythu Bharosa.
The program was improvised further and the quantum of the package was increased to Rs 67,500, and was being paid eight months in advance now, he said.
The scheme which was earlier designed for four years and was scheduled to begin in May 2020, was being launched today itself and extended to five years, and every eligible family would get Rs 13,500 instead of the promised Rs 12,500 annually, with the amount given in staggered payments to meet the cropping pattern of the farmers, he said.
The scheme would benefit 54 lakh farmers, including tenant farmers, and the amount to be paid would be split into Rs 4,000 in October for harvesting the Kharif crop or for the Rabi season, Rs 7,500 at the beginning of the Kharif season, and Rs 2,000 during Sankranti.
"The survey done during the previous government was faulty and had recorded only 43 lakh farmers only. We have screened the data and arrived at the figure of 54 lakh farmer families - and we are still counting," he added.
This was the first time that any State government had extended such a benefit to tenant farmers, Jagan claimed.
The scheme will be open till November 15, and eligible farmers, including tenant farmers, can register and claim the benefit.
Announcing more sops for the agriculture sector, the Chief Minister said that soon road tax for tractors would go, every mandal would have a cold storage unit, premium for crop insurance aggregating to Rs 2,164 crores would be paid on behalf of the farmers, and a Rs 3-000 crore Market Stabilization Fund set up to check price fluctuations and ensure MPS to farmers (apart from Rs 2,000 crore set aside for a Natural Calamities Fund to mitigate drought and floods). Also, a millets board would be set up, power would be given at Rs 1.50 per unit to aqua farmers, and Rs 7 lakh would be paid as insurance amount to the kin in case of farmers' demise, he added.