In a bid to highlight the woes of the distressed chilli farmers who have been hit hard by crash in chilli prices, activists of the CPI (M) and the Telangana Rytu Sangam took out a rally here on Thursday to press for procurement of chilli through State Marketing Federation (Markfed). Tension gripped the Agriculture Market Yard when the protesters made a vain bid to lay siege to the yard as a mark of protest against the low prices being offered at the market yard to the farmers for their produce.
A large contingent of police force prevented the protesters from entering the market yard premises.
Depressed prices
Addressing the protesters, CPI (M) district secretary P. Venkateshwara Rao alleged that the chilli growers were adversely hit by the drastic fall in price of chilli to a meagre ₹5,000 per quintal at the market yard. He said that a “clandestine deal” between the errant traders and middlemen was responsible for the low prices being offered and the consequent crisis being faced by the chilli growers in the district. He demanded that the State-run Markfed should immediately step in to procure the entire chilli produce from farmers at ₹15,000 per quintal to save the farmers from impending financial crisis.
