WARANGAL: At a time when most paddy farmers are struggling to get back on their feet after the five-month lockdown and untimely rains, the delay in procurement has become a cause for worry.Based on this information, Express visited various procurement centres in the erstwhile district and noticed hundreds of quintals of paddy, that the farmers had brought to the nearby centres, piled up on the premises.
Meanwhile, some distressed ryots said that the government had failed to procure their produce by providing a minimum support price (MSP). They demanded the government procure the produce at Rs 2,500 per quintal. Speaking to Express, A Sampath Kumar, a farmer, said: “I own four acres of land and cultivated fine variety paddy this season.
As per the new farming system, the expenditure for cultivation was high. Then, due to heavy rains and pest attacks, many farmers like me faced several problems and severe losses. We spent nearly Rs 18,000 to Rs 19,000 per acre for the cultivation of paddy.
This is why we demand the State government to provide Rs 2,500 MSP to fine variety rice.” When Express spoke to a few officials concerned, they said that a decision regarding this could be taken only by the State and Central governments. They said that though the State government had announced an additional incentive of Rs 150 for each quintal of paddy, they haven’t received any notification to this regard.
Protest in Nizamabad
Meanwhile in Nizamabad, a group of farmers, under the banner of Rythu Ikya Karyacharana Committee, staged a dharna on the Mamidipally x-roads on Monday demanding that the State announce an MSP of Rs 15,000 per quintal for turmeric. They also urged the government to provide an assistance of Rs 500 to maize farmers, who had to sell their produce for a very low price.
Farmers suffer losses, demand MSP
Distressed farmers say as per the new farming system, the expenditure for cultivation was high. Then, due to heavy rains and pest attacks, many farmers faced several problems and severe losses. “We spent nearly Rs 18,000 to Rs 19,000 per acre for the cultivation of paddy. This is why we demand the State government to provide Rs 2,500 minimum support price to fine variety rice. The government had failed to procure our produce by providing MSP, a farmer said in the erstwhile Warangal.