HYDERABAD - Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Monday said he would not go back on his plans to introduce cooperative farming in the state.

He told the state legislative assembly that he would introduce and implement cooperative farming in his Pulivendula constituency in Kadapa district to prove that this would work and benefit the farmers.

“I will implement cooperative farming in at least one village of every mandal in Pulivendula,” he said when opposition parties opposed his proposal and alleged that this would harm the interests of farmers.

The chief minister, popularly known as YSR, retorted: “We have an opposition that does not want the betterment of farmers and hence is creating doubts about cooperative farming.”

The main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) alleged that the government was introducing cooperative farming to take away land from poor farmers and hand them to the rich and to big companies.

The TDP, which argued that no farmer was seeking this system of farming, moved an adjournment motion on the issue and insisted on a debate.

YSR has already announced his government’s decision to introduce cooperative farming in the state to ensure good returns to the farmers.

Under this system, a group of farmers can come together and offer their lands for agriculture, horticulture, sericulture, poultry, goat or sheep rearing and allied activities.

In an open letter to farmers, he stated recently that the sole aim of the government was to make agriculture more remunerative. He said cooperative farming would come to the rescue of the farmers with lack of access to bank loans, technology and other inputs.