Karnataka Pratha Raitha Sangha (KPRS), Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS), All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and Red-gram Growers Association, Chittapur, have planned different forms of struggles for demanding better Minimum Support Price (MSP) for red-gram. Addressing a joint media conference here on Tuesday, the leaders of the organisations said that the MSP of Rs. 5050 plus State government incentive of Rs. 450 a quintal was too less considering the cost of cultivation.
“As per the report submitted by Agriculture Price Commission, the cost of cultivating red-gram in an acre is between Rs. 18,000 and Rs. 25,000. Considering the per-acre yield between three and four quintal, Rs. 6,500 is required to produce one quintal of red-gram. Based on these calculations, Karnataka government recommended an MSP of Rs. 6,500 a quintal of red-gram, but the Union government gave only Rs. 5,050,” Maruthi Manpade, president, KPRS, said. Karnataka government, he added, should increase its incentive from Rs. 450 a quintal to Rs. 1,500 a quintal so that its own recommendation to Union government would get fulfilled, he added.
Imports
Mr. Manpade lashed out at the Union government for working against the interests of domestic red-gram growers by duty-free imports of the crop from various countries.
“We are not against imports. Our domestic pulses requirement is 222 lakh metric tonnes a year and our domestic production is 175 metric tonnes a year. If you consider World Health Organisation’s recommendation of 80 grams of pulses per day per person, the domestic requirement would further grow. We may require to imports pulses when domestic production is not enough to meet. But, we should impose at least 30 percent import duty so that domestic growers could compete with big corporate classes in the import business,” he said. He alleged that the Union government was imposing no taxes on the red-gram imports just to favour a major importer of food-grains, sacrificing the interests of domestic growers.
Struggle
Mr. Manpade said the farmers’ organisations would launch coordinated struggles at various levels demanding increase in MSP for red-gram. As a first step, red-gram growers’ representatives, along with Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of Congress in Lok Sabha and Sharan Prakash Patil, Medical Education Minister and Kalaburagi In-charge, would meet three concerned Union Ministers – Nirmala Sitharaman, Radha Mohan Singh and Ram Vilas Paswan – and discuss on import duties, MSP and other issues pertaining to red-gram procurement.
“If the meetings are not fruitful, we will launch street-struggles blocking roads across red-gram growing areas in the State,” he warned.
Farmers’ leaders Ambarish Gowda Balabatti, Ashok Myageri, Moula Mulla and others were present.