Farmers in the rain-fed Prakasam district hoped for some relief when Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley assured, during presentation of the Union Budget, a sale price of 150% of cost of production. “Now, they are ruing their fate with the sale price of most crops ruling below the Minimum Support Price in the absence of market intervention by the Central and State marketing agencies,” a group of farmers said in a conversation with YSR Congress Party president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy during his Praja Sankalpa Yatra at Malepadu, near Ponnalur, in Prakasam district on Tuesday.
Giving a patient hearing, Mr. Reddy assured them, if voted to power, the YSRC would announce a minimum guaranteed price(MGP) for all the crops prior to commencement of the two cropping seasons.
A ₹3,000 crore market stabilisation fund would be constituted to bailout the farmers in distress.
