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Red gram farmers turn white with rage
Despite the good spell of monsoons last year, nothing seems to be going right for the farmers as they struggle to make ends meet. First it was demonetisation that whacked the farming community and then the poor demand in the market for red gram, which lead to a price crash, left the farmers high and dry.
​Khammam: Despite the good spell of monsoons last year, nothing seems to be going right for the farmers as they struggle to make ends meet. First it was demonetisation that whacked the farming community and then the poor demand in the market for red gram, which lead to a price crash, left the farmers high and dry.
Making matters worse for the famers, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) on Saturday stopped the purchase of red gram, citing that the procurement target was attained.
This comes as a shock to the farmers, who started cultivating red gram following the government’s call. As a result, the area under pulses cultivation was increased to 5.74 lakh hectares against normal area of 4.04 lakh hectares in the State. Of which red gram’s share was 3.85 lakh hectares.
Similar to the State-wide trend, the cultivation of pulses in undivided Warangal district also went up to 40,423 hectares against the normal area of 28,174 hectares.
Since the arrivals of red gram to Enumamula Market Yard, what farmers got was around Rs 4,000 per quintal against the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 5,050 per quintal. The Central government has set up 80 procurement counters across the State through Food Corporation of India (FCI) and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) to ensure MSP to farmers’ produce.
When enquired, the Enumamula Market Yard Secretary Ajmeera Raju told The Hans India, “Till date, the government agencies have procured 3,700 quintals from the farmers while the private traders lifted 17,208 quintals.”
Accusing the State agencies for rejecting farmers’ produce, AP Rythu Sangham State joint Secretary Nunna Nageswara Rao said, “Procurement is just for namesake.” He further said that the traders were offering just around Rs 4,000 per quintal by taking advantage of the situation. The Centre which promoted cultivation of pulses on large scale should continue purchases till last grain is lifted, he demanded.
With another 30 to 35 per cent of arrivals still expected at the market yards, the government should make arrangements to purchase the produce to save the farmers, he said.
Enumamula Market Committee Chairman K Dharmaraju said, “We have requested the procurement agency to continue the purchases till the end of this month enabling the farmers to sell their produce. We also took the issue to the notice of the government.”
Elsewhere in Khammam market, the situation is no different. According to market yard Secretary P Prasad Rao, the FCI has so far procured 5,889 quintals while the private traders lifted 11,334 quintals.
Meanwhile, the Telangana government is awaiting a response from the Centre to its request to continue procurement of red gram, it’s learnt.
