A paddy farmer Chinta Narayana Rao from Potluru village in Savalyapuram mandal of Guntur district poured out his woes in front of Telugu Desam Party president Nara Chandrababu Naidu at Vinukonda Agriculture Market Yard on Tuesday.
He had grown 45 bags of paddy per acre on four acres and was unable to sell majority of the yield as the Food Corporation of India had refused to procure.
“I have invested Rs.78,000 and need to repay my debts, but none is coming forward to buy my stocks, he lamented.
The farmer said he had two children and was worried, he might not be able to pay their school fee also in the next academic year.
Similar sentiments were expressed by tobacco grower of Upparapalem said that he had sold at Rs.30 per kg. but was waiting for money for the past three months. A subabul farmer, who had migrated from tobacco at Kambampadu in Nuzendla mandal, said while they sold subabul for Rs.1,700 a quintal last year, this time it was being purchased only for Rs.800.
On his way from Vinukonda to Ipuru, Mr. Naidu stopped at Koccherla village and went into the house of a paddy farmer and inspected stocks to find out how much he had grown. The farmer said that there was no place to stock his paddy and its quality was deteriorating by the day. “If the FCI or State Marketing Department buys, we will be saved,” he added.
As part of his Rythu Chaitanya Yatra being undertaken from Monday, Mr. Naidu arrived here at midnight and interacted with the farmers on the yard premises after giving a long speech on how corrupt was the Congress Government and his determination to put an end to it.
Assurance
Mr. Naidu promised to raise the issue with the State and Centre to put pressure on them to immediately resort to market intervention to save farmers.
The Congress had forgotten farmer welfare and was unable to procure tobacco, paddy and provide Minimum Support Price for many of the other crops like red gram or subabul in these parts of the State.
