Rs 38,000 crore for farm operations

The State government on Friday decided to sanction a loan of Rs 38,000 crore to farmers for 2010-11 to take up agriculture operations.

A high level review meet chaired by Chief Minister K Rosaiah at the Secretariat decided to give Rs 38,000 crore as loan for farmers this year. The government will convene a meeting with bankers on May 12 or 13 to discuss the issue, said Agriculture Minister Raghuveera Reddy.

The Chief Minister will hold a tele-conference on ryots' awareness yatra across the state on May 6.He said the Chief Minister has written a letter to Centre on giving powers to state to fix farm seed prices and compensation to farmers, who suffered huge losses due to fake seeds.

The meeting also urged the Centre to supply imported seeds after testing them in laboratories thoroughly.

The Chief Minister also directed the Minister to lead a delegation of MPs and farm leaders to Prime Minister to discuss the issue.