Ensure MSP for red gram farmers

​Hyderabad: Congress and TDP members demanded the State government to ensure Minimum Support Price (MSP) for agriculture produce to the farmers.

Raising the issue Congress members G Chinna Reddy and TDP MLA A Revanth Reddy said that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had encouraged the farmers to sow red gram offering an MSP of Rs 10,000 per quintal.

This made the farmers to opt for the same which resulted in the red gram production to touch around seven lakh tons in the State. But, contrary to the assurance, farmers are getting around Rs 4,500 and less per quintal at several market yards in the State.

The farmers are not able to recover their investment made in sowing red gram and were falling into the debt trap, they said.

Revanth Reddy demanded to know whether the Centre had put a cap on the procurement of red gram in the State to 45,000 tones.

G Chinna Reddy said that as per the government assessment farmers producing red gram incur about Rs 7,200 per acre.

The Centre has announced Rs 4,500 MSP per quintal which is inadequate. States like Punjab, Haryana, and West Bengal provide bonus over and above the MSP to the farmers.

This is in line with the recommendations of the Swaminathan Committee which recommended a 50 per cent incentive over and above the investment incurred by the farmers to make agriculture profitable, he pointed out.

He demanded the government to procure the red gram from the farmers at Rs 7,500 per quintal, in addition to paying bonus over and above it. Irrigation and Marketing Minister T Harish Rao clarified that there was no cap on the procurement of red gram.

Further, the State government has opened 75 procurement centres and so far more than one lakh tons of red gram has been procured. He also reiterated that the government would continue to procure the red gram.