Naidu: ₹1 lakh crore to make Rayalaseema a global horticulture hub within 10 years

Rayalaseema, long one of the driest parts of Andhra Pradesh, is to become a global horticulture hub within ten years, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu told the PanIIT Andhra Pradesh Summit in Vijayawada on Saturday.

"Another one lakh crores we are going to spend: 40,000 crores by public, that is government, 60,000 crores by private," he said. "Totally global horticulture hub we are going to make Rayalaseema within 10 years' time."

From drought to 20 kinds of fruit

Naidu called it a success story. Anantapur has the second-lowest rainfall in the country, he said, and Rayalaseema, prosperous in the time of Krishnadevaraya, became drought-prone, with parts of it turning to desert. Water conservation and drip irrigation changed that: "With the limited water, they are able to do extraordinary crops." The region now grows about 20 varieties of fruit, he said.

The foundation for the hub was laid at Madanapalle on Friday, 2 October, by Naidu and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The Centre's ₹40,000 crore comes under its Purvodaya scheme, and the project covers the four erstwhile districts of Rayalaseema along with Prakasam and Nellore, Deccan Chronicle reported.

"If you eat mango or banana or sweet orange or any fruit for that matter, you have to see that date, place. We are going to bring traceability and also certification."

'Now I created ISA'

The hub comes with an Indian School of Agriculture, being set up by Reliance, whose foundation stone was also laid at Madanapalle. Naidu compared it to the business school he brought to Hyderabad as Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh: "For that I started ISB, Indian School of Business. Everybody considered me masterstroke. Now I created ISA. This is Indian School of Agriculture."

It will cover agribusiness, technology and marketing, he said: "Ultimately, farmers' destiny will be changed."

Earlier, IT and education minister Nara Lokesh told the summit that Naidu had convinced Mukesh Ambani to set up the school, and that it was "the beginning of a 1 lakh crore investment coming into horticulture ecosystem, from research to processing to mechanisation to giving quality product to the end consumer to doubling the income of farmers".

Data from every field

Naidu said the state is building a sovereign AI stack on top of a single data lake fed with real-time readings of temperature, soil moisture, rain, humidity and reservoir levels, and will reach people through WhatsApp and the Mana Mitra service. He asked IIT alumni to help build it.

Read more from the summit: Naidu's promises for universities and investors, and the PanIIT Amaravati Council and QShiva launch.