The Andhra Pradesh government on Monday signed 11 MoUs with leading organisations from across the country to develop agriculture sector in the state.

The state's Agriculture Department signed the MoUs with the officials of various institutes in the presence of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and his cabinet collages Kurasala Kannababu, Mopidevi Venkataramana and Kodali Venkateswara Rao.

The Chief Minister said that it is very important to partner with such eminent organisations for the development and improvement in the agriculture standards.

As part of these MoUs, farmers will be trained in organic and natural farming techniques. They will also be offered training in various agriculture domains, he said.

The institutes with which the state signed the agreements include the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Chennai, the National Institute of Plant Health Management (NIPHM), Hyderabad, the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, the Central Fertiliser Quality and Training Institute (CFQTI), Faridabad, the National Seed Research and Training Institute (NSRTI), Varanasi, the Central Institute of Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), Hyderabad, the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal, the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Bareilly, the Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals (IAHVB), Bengaluru, and the ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (ICAR-CIFA), Bhubaneswar.

H. Arun Kumar, Special Commissioner, Agriculture, signed the MoUs with the officials of the institutes.

Jagan Mohan Reddy said after coming to power, his government took initiatives to provide good governance right at the village level itself. Through village and ward volunteers, all the government services are being provided in the village level right at the doorstep of the beneficiary.

The government has also established 11,158 'rythu bharosa' centres across the state for the benefit of the farmers and by June, all these centres will be made available with agriculture assistants, horticulture assistant, veterinary and aqua assistants. Farmers will be given quality seeds, fertilisers and farmer equipment through these centres. Also, they can sell their produce through these centres at not less than the support price given by the government.

"Through rythu bharosa, every year Rs 13,500 is being provided to the farmer families and we are providing free electricity for nine hours. We are also providing crop insurance to the farmers without putting any burden on them."

The Chief Minister said that that 50 percent of the farmers in the state are having less than 1.25 acres of agriculture land and 70 percent of the farmers are with less than one hectare of land.