Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has reiterated that the proposed State-level Farmers Federation will be vested with powers to decide the minimum support price to farmers produce.
Steps would be initiated to ensure that farmers sold their produce if they secured prices better than the MSP failing which the farmers’ associations would be given permits for taking up milling.
The Government was committed to provide ₹ 500 crore budgetary support to the federation proposed to be constituted by the Government and it would be further strengthened with capital to be raised through loans from banks. The proposal was aimed at ensuring that farmers not only get MSP for their produce, but also sell their crop at higher prices.
The Chief Minister made this announcement when a delegation of senior leaders from Mahbubabad district called on him at Pragati Bhavan on Thursday.
Village-level survey
He said the Government had initiated a number of measures for the welfare of the farmers and to see that agriculture was made profitable. Accordingly, agriculture extension officers had been directed to conduct survey from the village-level for recording data of farmers as well as their lands.
Once the survey was completed, steps would be initiated to constitute associations at the village, mandal, district and State levels. These associations had been contemplated to help farmers through timely interventions and help the Government in framing policies.
Input support
The Government had decided to provide ₹8,000 an acre input to farmers to see that they did not fall into a debt trap and at the same time, priority was being accorded to irrigation.
Projects were being taken up on a war footing. The Government was confident that water from Godavari would be drawn through pump houses of Kaleswaram project next year for supply to Warangal district through mid Manair and lower Manair dams. Officials had been directed to take up repairs on SRSP canal in Mahabubabad district so that water reached Suryapet district and should have the capacity to supply close to 10,000 cusecs.
