Kadapa: District admin gears up to procure kharif crops

Kadapa: In a major relief to farmers, the district administration has decided to purchase all varieties like paddy, red gram, green gram and other crops except cotton at Minimum Support Price (MSP) in the present kharif season.

The agriculture department and Civil Supplies Corporation will jointly set up purchasing centres at Rythu Bharosa Kendras, following the instructions of Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.

It has been proposed to train Village Cooperative Associations(VCA), Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies(PACS), Agro Farmer Service Centres (AFSC), District Cooperative Marketing Societies(DCMS), Farmers Producing Associations(FPA) on how to organize purchasing centres.

According to official sources, farmers should enrol their names and crop details either through e-crop booking procedure or at RBK.

After enrolling the details, farmers get information through their mobiles regarding time of purchase, price and other details. The process is aimed to eliminating the role of middlemen in disposal of produce by farmers.

"Farmers are being deceived by middlemen in various methods during the purchase of produce. Introduction of purchasing centres will be highly beneficial to the farmers in securing proper price," said K Venkataramana Reddy, a farmer from Vempalle mandal.

Joint director, agriculture, J Murali Krishana said that following directions of the government, the administration will purchase the produce from the farmer who enrolled the crop details through e-crop booking. This will help farmers in getting the MSP for their produce in a transparent manner.