The Dakshina Kannada in-charge minister handed CM Siddaramaiah’s memorandum to PM Modi, highlighting severe distress among farmers due to a sharp fall in maize and green gram prices.
The letter says lakhs of farmers face a price crash as market rates fall below the Centre’s MSP. The Centre has fixed MSP at Rs 2400 for maize and Rs 8768 for green gram per metric tonne. Actual market prices in Karnataka dropped to Rs 1600–1800 for maize and about Rs 5400 for green gram.
Despite a good monsoon yield, farmers struggle due to poor demand and reduced prices. The letter explains that this drastic fall has caused widespread hardship among the state’s farming community.
The CM urged the PM to direct NAFED, FCI, and NCCF to begin MSP procurement and requested curbs on maize imports to safeguard farmer livelihoods.