Hyderabad, Jun 16 (IANS): Farmers in Telangana have started received investment support for cultivation during the Kharif season under the Rythu Bandhu scheme, and on the first day, over Rs 516 crore was credited to their bank accounts.

Agriculture Minister S. Niranjan Reddy said on Wednesday that Rs 516.95 crore was credited to the bank accounts of 16,95,601 farmers on Tuesday.

To start with, authorities provided assistance to farmers owning less than an acre of land. The amount credited on the first day pertain to 10,33,915 acres.

Nalgonda district had the highest number of beneficiaries on the first day. A total of 1,11,970 farmers in the district received Rs 36.10 crore. The lowest number of beneficiaries was in Adilabad district. Officials credited Rs 35.60 lakh in the accounts of 9,628 farmers.

On Wednesday, farmers owning up to two acres of land will get the money in their bank accounts. The state has 15.07 lakh farmers holding up to two acres of land each. They will get investment support of Rs 1,152.46 crore.

The process of providing investment support will continue till June 25. A total of Rs 7,509 crore will be provided to over 63 lakh farmers at the rate of Rs 5,000 per acre.

This year, farmers who received landholding (pattadar) passbooks and registered their details through the CCLA on the Dharani portal by June 10 have been declared eligible to receive Rythu Bandhu assistance.

The CCLA has submitted a list of 63,25,695 beneficiaries to the Agriculture Department.

The departments estimated that an amount of Rs 7,508.78 crore is required for assistance under the scheme for cultivation on 150.18 lakh acres across the state.

An additional 66,311 acres have been brought under Rythu Bandhu this year. This will benefit 2.81 lakh farmers.

Among 34 district, Nalgonda district has highest number of beneficiaries (4,72,983). They hold 12.18 lakh acres of land and they will receive Rs 608.81 crore.

Medchal Malkajgiri district has least number of beneficiaries (39,762). They own 77,000 acres of land and will get an assistance of Rs 38.39 crore under the scheme.

The state government made an allocation of Rs 14,800 crore for Rythu Bandhu in the 2021-22 budget. Under the scheme, Rs 10,000 investment support is being provided for every acre every year. The government is crediting the amount in two installments for two crop seasons.

The government had launched the scheme in 2018 with announcement of Rs 8,000 investment support per acre per crop. In 2019, the amount was enhanced to Rs 10,000.