BENGALURU: Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Thursday said that he would travel along with his party’s 28 MPs to New Delhi, and speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar, to exclude milk products from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement. He was speaking at Krishi Mela 2019, held at University of Agriculture Sciences.
“A letter has already been sent to the government regarding withdrawal of milk and dairy products from the agreement. The government will ensure that there are other policies framed in the interest of farmers who are dependant on dairy farming,” he said, while inaugurating the agricultural fair.
He said that the government will assist the farmers to ensure they get a fair price for their crop. “The irrigated area in the state is only 35%, which should be increased. The central government has released Rs 489 crore totally to be given to 25 lakh farmers in Karnataka, wherein Rs 6,000 is given to each farmer each year, in installments. The compensation given by them for crop loss, owing to the recent floods, is Rs 1,346 crores. Forty percent of food grains are wasted in the state, amounting to a loss of Rs 50,000 crore. We need to bring this down,” he added.
Meanwhile, Deputy CM Laxman Savadi, in his speech, said that the state is the third highest producer of milk.MLA Krishne Byre Gowda of Byatarayanapura constituency said, “If the union government allows import of milk in the RCEP agreement, local dairy farmers will be largely affected. They are sustaining their livelihood because of this. Several have returned to their villages from the city to take up dairy farming. The Yediyurappa government implemented a support price for Rs 2 per litre previously, which the Congress government increased to Rs 5, which has been beneficial to them.”