Agriculture Minister K. Atchannaidu presented a ₹48,341.14 crore budget for the agriculture and allied sectors for FY 2025 – 26 in the Legislative Assembly on Friday with the highest allocation of ₹12,903.41 crore for the maintenance of irrigation projects.
Andhra Pradesh Budget updates: State Govt presents ₹3.2 lakh crore Budget for 2025-26
₹12,773.25 crore was allocated for nine-hour free power supply to agricultural consumers, and ₹12,401.58 crore for the implementation of various farmers’ welfare and development programmes.
Mr. Atchannaidu stated in his Budget speech that the Gross Value Added (GVA) for agriculture at current prices as per the GSDP first advance estimates was ₹57,187 crore and a growth rate of 22.86% was estimated.
Vision Swarna Andhra
The government targeted an increase in the productivity of 11 crops and area under natural farming as key contributors to achieving 15% growth rate as part of the Vision Swarna Andhra.
The power tariff for aquaculture services has been determined as ₹3.85 per unit but a concessional tariff of ₹1.50 per unit will be made applicable to the eligible services.
The government earmarked ₹9,400 crore for Annadata Sukhibhava – PM Kisanscheme under which the State and the Central governments will together provide a financial assistance of ₹20,000 per annum (₹14,000 and ₹6,000 respectively) to farmers, ₹6.026.87 crore for agriculture and allied works under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, and ₹1,023 crore for the weather – based crop insurance scheme.
A sum of ₹250 crore has been allocated for settling interest subsidy claims on crop loans, ₹240 crore for distribution of seeds at subsidized rates, ₹219.65 crore for farm mechanisation, and about ₹62 crore for natural farming by 15 lakh farmers on 6.50 lakh hectares.
Mr. Atchannaidu said the government proposed a budget of ₹930.88 crore for horticulture, of which ₹500 crore goes to Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana and ₹179 crore each for replacing traditional agricultural crops with commercial horticulture crops and creating post – harvest infrastructure for it under the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture, and cultivation of oil palm under the National Mission on Edible Oils.
A vast chunk (₹300 crore) of the budget for agricultural marketing amounting to ₹315 crore has been allocated for the Price Stabilization Fund. In this context, it was mentioned that the Central government fixed a minimum price of ₹11,781 per quintal for chillies under the Market Intervention Scheme.
When the market prices plunge below that, the Central and the State governments will pay the difference equally.
The Animal Husbandry and Cooperation Departments got ₹1,112.07 crore and ₹239.85 crore respectively while the Fisheries Department has been allocated ₹540.19 crore including ₹417 crore for the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana.
Further, the Minister said a sum of ₹797.79 crore was allocated to Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Dr. YSR Horticultural University, Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University and AP Fisheries University, noting that ‘farmers and agri-tech’ related to the agriculture sector was one of the ten guiding principles outlined in the Swarna Andhra – 2047 plan.
