VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has directed officials to take immediate action to transport bananas grown in Rayalaseema to major markets such as Mumbai and Kokalta, He stressed that large scale rail transportation should be arranged to ensure farmers receive better prices in outside markets.
The CM on Saturday held a teleconference with horticulture and marketing department officials to review banana prices, cotton procurement and maize market conditions. He instructed officials to hold daily meetings with traders to monitor banana prices and coordinate the movement of produce. He also advised using railway wagons to despatch banana loads to Maharashtra and other regions.
During the meeting, the Chief Minister was informed that bananas are currently being cultivated in 40,000 hectares across Rayalaseema and that prices are likely to rise in the first week of December. In view of this, CM directed immediate measures to ensure farmers do not incur losses. He also asked the officials to prepare a detailed logistics plan for continuous movement of the produce.
Regarding maize, Naidu directed measures to support farmers as the market price has fallen below the Minimum Support Price (MSP). He asked officials to examine compensating farmers for the price difference through the Price Stabilisation Fund. This season, maize has been cultivated in 1.42 lakh hectares, and production is expected to reach 8.18 lakh metric tonnes. The CM suggested procuring 2.04 lakh metric tonnes through Markfed and to begin trial procurement via agencies. If successful, the model can be adopted whenever market distress occurs.
The CM instructed marketing officials to inspect cotton procurement centres every day, interact with farmers and resolve issues immediately. He stressed that discoloured and moisture-affected cotton should also be purchased.