Vijayawada: Minister Kodali Nani urges aqua farmers not to go for distress sale

Vijayawada: Minister for Civil supplies and Consumer Affairs Kodali Venkateswara Rao alias Nani has asked the aqua farmers not to go for distress sale.

The Minister said the government was taking all measures to help the farmers. Seafood markets in China and Japan were reopened after the lockdown came to an end.The importers in the two countries will buy prawn from Andhra Pradesh.

Aqua farmers from Nandivada and other mandals met the minister on Saturday and urged him to ensure that the government extends its help to them. The farmers said they were selling the prawn at lower price in the local market as the exports came to a halt.

The Minister said District Collector Md Imtiaz hadasked the owners of the food processing plants in the district to purchase prawn and other aqua produce from the farmers in Krishnan district.

He said Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is convening meetings with the officials of Fisheries, Marketing and other departments and trying to ensure remunerative price forthe produce.

Necessary steps are being taken to convince the food processing plants to purchase aqua produce from the farmers and asked them not to fall in the trap of middlemen and brokers and sell their produce at low price in the local market.