Former Minister Nara Lokesh on Monday expressed concern that the Government had not extended any benefit under market intervention, lockdown relaxation and crop compensation to farmers who are suffering from COVID losses.
He said that over Rs. 300 Cr dues were not yet paid to the paddy farmers towards the purchases of crop belonging to the kharif season.
In an open letter addressing to CM YS Jaganmohan Reddy here, the TDP National General Secretary said that rabi crops were grown in 22.44 lakh hectares in the state but the farmers were not able to get good prices despite the relaxations extended to them from the lockdown restrictions. The crop prices came down by less than half due to lack of facilities and labour for harvesting, transportation, marketing and exports.
Mr. Lokesh said that the farmers of paddy, maize, lemon, pomegranate, chilli, redgram and other crops were badly hit. Rayalaseema farmers have grown banana, mango, papaya, coconut, musk melon, water melon, ect but they were not getting remunerative prices. The government has make lot of statements to save horticulture farmers but has not helped them in the field level so far.
Referring to rabi crops, Mr. Lokesh said that CM Jagan Reddy had promised to set up Rs. 3,000 Cr price stabilisation fund but that was confined only to paper. As farmers’ problems were multiplying, the government should set aside e-crop booking and begin purchasing crop produce through MARKFED to ensure remunerative prices.
Mr. Lokesh said that in the recent untimely rains, crops were damaged in over 15,000 hectares as per primary estimates. The government should enumerate the losses and pay compensation to the farmers concerned. The damages were reported in Krishna, Guntur, Godavari, Anantapuram, Kurnool, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts. The YSRCP government was turning indifferent though the farmers were getting debt-ridden and committing suicides. In this rabi season, paddy production stood at 55 lakh tonnes, maize at 14.5 lakh tonnes, chickpea at lakh 5.5 tonnes, turmeric at 2 lakh tonnes and so on. The government should ensure good prices to these farmers and save them from lockdown crisis.
