BENGALURU: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah has urged PM Narendra Modi to direct the State Government to remove all restrictions and ceilings imposed on ragi procurement.
In a letter to Modi, the CLP leader has urged him to direct the government to extend registration time and increase the quantum of procurement above the current 2.1 lakh tonne to accommodate all farmers willing to sell it to procurement centres.
“The government had started registration for ragi procurement under MSP from January 1 and ended it on January 31. Many farmers are yet to register,” the Badami MLA said. “Based on the estimates by Agriculture Department, ragi was sown in about 19.35 lakh acres. Agriculture Department estimates the production of 1 tonne of ragi in 1 acre and so we can expect 19.3 lakh tonnes of ragi. About 4-5 lakh tonnes of ragi were destroyed due to unseasonal rain. Farmers still have 15 lakh tonnes of ragi and are waiting to sell at MSP,” he said.
Siddaramaiah said the MSP for ragi was increased by just Rs 82 per quintal, from Rs 3,295 per quintal in 2020-2021 to Rs 3,377 in 2021-2022. Karnataka has agreed to procure only 2.1 lakh tonnes of ragi but this is not sufficient at all.
"The government had issued an order saying that it would procure ragi only from the small and marginal farmers at a rate of 20 quintals per acre. This had meant that those having more than five acres of land had been left out of the market intervention scheme. Farmers are protesting to remove the acre ceiling imposed by the State government the procurement," he said.