Over 120 Andhra Pradesh Farmers to Visit Singapore to Learn Business Practices

The Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) will send 123 farmers, who gave their land in the Amaravati capital region under the land pooling scheme for residential and commercial plots, to Singapore so that they can learn about best business practices. The state government is going to pay for the food, accommodation and tour within Singapore city for four days while the farmers will bear the cost of flights, insurance and visa.

Around 32,000 farmers have given their land for the construction of Amaravati, the capital of Andhra Pradesh.

Initially, the government planned to send 100 farmers to Singapore but Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu selected 123 farmers by allocating an additional Rs 12 lakh for the trip. The government believes that Singapore is the best place to learn entrepreneurship for the farmers.

“Farmers are the original citizens of the capital and they should be happy. Their transition into the entrepreneurship sector must be smooth, so we must ensure that skill building is a continuous process,” Naidu said at an APCRDA meeting at Vijayawada last week.

The farmers have given up land ranging from 250 sq yards to 1,000 sq yards. In return, they received plots depending on the size of the plot they surrendered.

Farmers can be helped through entrepreneurship and business development skills and may become role models for others, officials said. The state government is trying to make 32,000 farmer families self-sustaining, Naidu said.
The trip to Singapore was not a free one as officials feared that all the farmers who had given up their land would come forward for the trip, which was not possible to arrange for the government.

However, some farmers feel that spending Rs 25,000, which is the cost they will have to bear, was not a big deal compared to the experience they would gain. The government is spending Rs 30,000 per head.

Andhra Pradesh-Singapore MoU for Amaravati Masterplan

The Andhra Pradesh state government and Singapore had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in May 2017 to enhance cooperation for the Amaravati masterplan.

“A high-level Joint Implementation Steering Committee (JSIC), co-chaired by the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and the Singapore Minister of Trade and Industry, will provide leadership and direction for the implementation of the MoU,” Sreedhar Cherukuri, commissioner, Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority, had said at the time.

The MoU will also allow Singapore entities to invest in Amaravati while also allowing them to contribute their expertise to the state’s economic development.

Singapore’s masterplan was accepted by Andhra Pradesh through a “Swiss Challenge” method. Two Singapore-based companies — Ascendas-Singbridge and Sembcorp Development — had formed a consortium to do the capital construction for the upcoming state capital. The government is expected to spend Rs 33,000 crore in 7-8 years for developing the state capital’s infrastructure.

Andhra Pradesh and Telangana were divided into two states in 2014, with Hyderabad declared as the capital of Telangana and the de jure capital of the former.