Srikakulam: CPM decides to intensify stir over cashew price

Srikakulam: CPM leaders decided to intensify agitation to achieve minimum support price (MSP) for raw cashew nuts. Speaking at a press conference at Palasa on Saturday, party leaders D Govinda Rao and B Krishna Murthy lamented the state government’s failure to settle the issues between cashew processing unit owners and farmers. Due to import of raw cashew nuts from the various countries by the cashew processing units, local cashew nut farmers are not able to dispose of their produce at reasonable price. Owners of the cashew processing units are not procuring cashew nuts from the local farmers which is hitting earning of farmers and they are depending on middlemen to dispose of their produce at cheaper price they said.

The CPM leaders announced that they will hold a public meeting at Palasa on October 10 at Palasa to highlight the woes of cashew farmers and demand that the government procure cashew nuts from local farmers through Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBK). They also sought a price of Rs 16,000 for per 80 kg raw cashew nut bag as MSP.