The Telugu Desam, CPI and CPI(M) will organise a `Maha dharna' between Tenali and Pedaravuru on November 27 for exerting pressure on the Government to solve the problems faced by paddy farmers and another massive protest from Kondamodu to Dachepalli in the first week of December to highlight the plight of cotton farmers if the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) fails to concede their demands by the month-end.
Announcing this at a press conference here on Tuesday, TDP district president and Chilakaluripet MLA Prathipati Pulla Rao said huge stocks of paddy were lying with farmers as they were unable to fetch minimum support price (MSP) for their produce.
Instead of taking necessary market intervention measures, the State Government was silently watching the poor farmers resort to distress sale. Farmers in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala were enjoying bonus but their counterparts in Andhra Pradesh were not getting a single pie from the Government.
Farmers could not afford to sell paddy at a price less than MSP. They also did not have space to store the commodity and the Food Corporation of India's warehouses were brimming with stockpiles of rotting foodgrains. The Government was not concerned with this sordid state of affairs.
CPI district secretary Muppalla Nageswara Rao said torrential rains inflicted heavy losses on cotton farmers. The CCI should not only set up centres for procuring good quality cotton at MSP but also the crop damaged by rain. Unless the CCI acts immediately, farmers would not be able to come out of the red.
CPI(M) leader D Narasimha Rao said urgent steps were required to help farmers withstand the vagaries of market forces.
