CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday announced that following representations from farmers, traders and the general public, the 1% market fee on maize trade has been waived.
“On January 1, 2025, the state government notified the regulation of the purchase and sale of maize (in all forms) in the notified areas of 161 regulated markets in 16 districts. This notification has been cancelled and this will be published in the state gazette soon,” the agriculture secretary said in a statement.
The secretary also recalled that maize is cultivated in around four lakh hectares and the yield is around 29 lakh metric tonnes in the state. Though maize was primarily procured for cattle feed production, its demand as a raw material for ethanol production has increased. Following this, the government has been encouraging maize cultivation.
Tamil Maanila Congress general secretary M Yuavaraja, in a statement, had expressed serious concern about the 1% market fee on maize and urged Chief Minister MK Stalin to cancel this immediately, considering the interests of the farmers. He also urged the government to procure maize directly without intermediaries.