HYDERABAD: Stating that the Union government announces the minimum support price (MSP) and shifts the responsibility of procurement onto the states, Agriculture Minister Thummala Nageswara Rao on Friday demanded that the Centre itself procure every crop for which support price is fixed.
During a review meeting, the minister found fault with the Centre for “limiting” itself to MSP announcements without ensuring that farmers actually receive those prices. He said that no adequate steps were being taken to ensure MSP in the open market, pushing farmers into losses. “In states like Telangana, the government procures crops at MSP to prevent farmers from suffering losses. This results in an additional burden of Rs 2,000 crore to Rs 3,000 crore annually on the state government, with no support from the Centre,” he said.
He reviewed the selection of paddy varieties, seed availability and cultivation plans for the upcoming Kharif season.
High-yield crops
The agriculture officials informed the minister that fine varieties such as BPT-5024, RNR-15048, HMT Sona, Jai Shreeram, KNM-1638, WGL-44, WGL-962, JGL-1798 and others were being prepared for the coming Kharif season. The minister noted that last year, the availability of 33 different fine varieties caused difficulties for farmers during sales, with some varieties not even receiving bonus amounts.
To avoid such issues this year, the minister suggested limiting the number of varieties and ensuring availability of high-yielding ones. He instructed the officials to prepare a seed supply plan based on procurement capacities of both the state and Union governments.
Stating that special awareness programmes on the seed varieties will be conducted on May 4, he said directed the officials to ensure that the selected seed varieties were made available to farmers by May 15.