Plea to open paddy purchase centres

Eluru: Andhra Pradesh Koulu Rythu Sangham (APKRS), West Godavari unit, demanded that the Government open paddy and maize purchasing centres in the district immediately and purchase the produce from the farmers.

The APKRS district committee general secretary, K Srinivas and several tenant farmers submitted a memorandum to District In-charge Collector Pulipati Koteswara Rao at Mee Kosam programme held at Collectorate on Monday.

Srinivas told the In-charge Collector that the Rabi paddy was now in harvesting stage and so far no purchase centre was opened in the district. Due to this, the farmers were incurring a loss by selling their produce to the middlemen. He submitted that the tenant farmers who took loans from private vendors were not getting the minimum support price (MSP). 

He requested the In-charge Collector to open the paddy purchasing centres and conduct a joint meeting with farmers associations, farmers, tenant farmers to discuss on purchase problems. 

He stated that the middlemen were not even giving Rs 1,000 for 75 kgs paddy bag. He requested the Collector to ease the purchase conditions to save tenant farmers. He also asked the Collector to open the maize purchasing centres in upland areas and pay MSP of Rs 1,900 per quintal to maize.