ONGOLE: Farmers of Prakasam district are eagerly waiting for the purchase of their Bengal gram produce at a support price by the government. Due to lack of support price and lockdown, Bengal gram purchases came to a halt and huge stocks got accumulated with farmers. Hence, the state government has decided to purchase 15,000 MTs of Bengal gram from Prakasam farmers through MARKFED (Andhra Pradesh State Co-operative Marketing Federation Ltd).
According to agriculture officials, 45,000 farmers cultivated Bengal gram in 86,895 hectares in the district. The crop yield was put at 13 lakh quintals. MARKFED purchased nearly 2.26 lakh quintals of Bengal gram from Prakasam farmers earlier. A majority of the farmers who stocked Bengal gram in cold storage, are hopeful of getting a better price for their produce.
On the request of the district administration and people’s representatives, the government has given its nod to purchase 8,000 tonnes of Bengal gram from Prakasam farmers. MARKFED Incharge Additional Director KVN Upendra Kumar met Joint Collector J Venkata Murali recently and discussed the purchase of Bengal gram from farmers.
The Joint Collector wrote a letter to the government seeking special permission for purchase of 15,000 tonnes of Bengal gram from Prakasam farmers out of the total 70,000 tonnes of the crop to be procured in the State as the district is a major cultivator.
"The government recently decided to procure an additional 70,000 metric tonnes of Bengal gram through MARKFED, which will benefit farmers in a big way. The Joint Collector wrote a letter to the government seeking permission to purchase 15,000 tonnes of Bengal gram from farmers of Prakasam at a support price of Rs 4,875 per quintal. We hope that the government will give permission to procure 5,000 tonnes more of Bengal gram from farmers of Prakasam district at a support price," Upendra Kumar told TNIE.