HYDERABAD: The State government will discourage farmers from growing maize this Rabi season, as conditions for its cultivation are far from conducive across the country. During a meeting called by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao at Pragathi Bhavan on Saturday, officials said that the chances of maize farmers getting minimum support price (MSP) for their produce were slim, given the lopsided policies of the Central government.
“Now, agriculture produce can be sold anywhere in the country, as per the new Farm Law. Further, the duty on the import of agriculture produces has been reduced by the Centre. Due to these reasons, the maize farmers would barely get the MSP,” the officials told the CM.
The officials said that 28 crore tonnes of maize was surplus in the international market. The country required only 2.42 crore tonnes of maize per year. The present maize stocks amounted to 3.53 crore tonnes -- a surplus of 1.11 crore tonnes. Further, the crop was grown in the country in 2.04 core acres during the Kharif season. As a result, 4.10 crore tonnes of fresh stocks of maize would soon hit the markets.
The existing stocks in the country would be sufficient for the next year as well, the officials added. “The Central government has also decided to import 5 lakh tonnes of maize. This would add to the woes of the farmers,” the officials told the CM. “Due to these factors, the maize farmers will not get the MSP,” the officials said.
Moreover, when Agriculture Minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy contacted the poultry farmers, they were not willing to purchase the maize produced in the State, as maize from Bihar, Chhattisgarh, MP, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and UP was available in the market at rates lower than that of Telangana maize.