‘Maa Thota’ — a village development programme being implemented nationwide — has shown great results in Andhra Pradesh, particularly in the agency (tribal) areas of Visakhapatnam district, according to P. Mohanaiah, Chief General Manager of the Nabard, Andhra Pradesh.
During his recent visit to the Araku Valley in the district, he said in an interview that 54,000 families had derived benefit from the scheme being implemented in 14 districts, while the number was 10,000 families in the district. “The target is to cover 1,00,000 families in the State,” he said.
He said 'Maa Thota' (my garden) was a horticulture project of the bank being implemented through the village development committees. The NGOs played a key role in the integrated development of the village.
The committees provided a platform to farmers to work with other government agencies and see beyond ‘Maa Thota’ for the overall development of their villages.
He said the scheme had become popular with farmers in view of the involvement of all family members in growing horticulture crops in lands owned by them. The beneficiaries were having only one or two acres. In Visakhapatnam district, 10 NGOs are involved in the programme.
Mohanaiah said that the Remote and Interior areas Development Fund played a key role in the execution of 26,000 development projects including small and medium irrigation projects.
He said Nabard was willing to execute protected drinking water schemes for the tribal population wherever there were hill streams or water resources. If such a proposal came from the Integrated Tribal Development Agency, the bank would take it up under the RIDF programme, he said.