Farmers told not to sell paddy below MSP

Farmers Empowerment Convention

Kakinada: District Collector Neethu Prasad said at Panduru village in Kakinada rural mandal on Thursday that all the banks had displayed the names of eligible famers for loan waiver.

The Collector was addressing the farmers’ empowerment convention which was organised to disburse the loan waiver forms to the eligible famers and to create awareness among them on modern methods of cultivation in East Godavari district.

The Collector said that the farmers who had taken loans up to Rs 50,000 would be covered in the first phase. Others would be covered in subsequent phases. She said that nearly seven lakh farmers were eligible in the district and names of 3.35 lakh famers were put on website. Names of others were pending due to non-availability of particulars of ration and Aadhaar cards and “the collection of these details is in the process,” she said.

With regard to minimum support price (MSP) to the paddy farmers, the Collector enquired with the local farmers on sale of paddy to the millers. The farmers replied that millers were purchasing 75-kg bag of paddy for Rs 1,160.

In this connection, the Collector advised the farmers not to sell paddy below the MSP. The Collector also advised them to set up food processing units to generate additional income as the banks would extend financial assistance to them in this regard.

These conventions will continue up to December 16. Separate teams were constituted for each mandal to organise these meets. Publicity material was also supplied to these teams to educate farmers on new farming methods along with loan waiver forms.

Complaints on the loan waiver could be registered in the complaint registers available with the teams. Laptops were also made available to the farmers to know the family details. The farmers were being assured that all the eligible would get this benefit, the Collector said.

Kakinada TDP MLA Pilli Anantha Lakshmi also participated in the farmers meet at Panduru in Kakinada rural mandal.

The MLA said that the loan waiver was a historical step taken by the State Government to protect the interests of the famers in the State and the government was committed to fulfil its promise made to the farmers.