Anantapur, April 18: Agricultural lands of SC and ST farmers will get a new face with Non-Pesticidal Management (NPM) in drought-prone Anantapur district. Government has undertaken NPM works with Rs 145 crores in 30 mandals under a pilot project. About 58,000 acres of SC, ST farmers will benefit. Officials are employing NREGS labourers to develop lands suitable for agriculture and entrusting these works to SC, ST groups registered under the Indira Kranthi Patham. The objective of the NPM programme is to make villages pesticide and debt-free and replace external agricultural inputs through local knowledge. Officials will spend around Rs 41,000 for every acre of SC and ST farmers and expand the programme to all 63 mandals within a year. They will persuade farmers to switch over to NPM for sustainable agriculture during implementation of the project. Farmers will cultivate vegetables, castor, mango, pa-paya, sapota, guava, red gram and alternate crops to boost their income to overcome impending droughts and famines. Horticultural and state micro irrigation project officials are jointly executing the programme and have identified 934 villages in 30 mandals of which 594 villages are predominantly of SC and ST farmers. The AP micro irrigation project director, Mr Neelakanta Reddy, said that the NPM would eliminate poverty in rural areas and check suicides of farmers.