Vijayawada: Government urged to convene meeting with farmers' bodies

Vijayawada (NTR district): Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangam general secretary KVV Prasad demanded that the State government should convene a meeting with all Rythu Sangam leaders to solve the issues related to paddy procurement. On Wednesday, he wrote a letter to Minister for Civil Supplies Karumuri Nageswara Rao in this regard.

Prasad said that with the untimely rains for the past 10 days, farmers were facing severe problems due to unavailability of storage facilities for grains. He alleged that gunny bags have not been supplied on time and millers did not accept moisture percentage that was registered at Rythu Bharosa Kendrams (RBKs). Hence, farmers were selling their crop for the lowest price to the middlemen. RBK staff had failed to prevent the middlemen and millers' intervention, he alleged.

Similarly, the farmers leader said that during Kharif season, around 74.81 lakh tons of paddy was produced in the State, of which the State government procured just 35.10 lakh tons. Moreover, farmers were not paid for their produce. Keeping the past experiences in mind, the government should take necessary steps to avoid problems during Rabi paddy procurement, he urged. The Minister could take an initial step of conducting a meeting with all Rythu Sangam leaders in this regard, he appealed.