Chairman of the Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) M. Kodandaram has demanded that the State Government bring out a comprehensive policy on agriculture to help the farming community come out of crisis.
A day-long ‘deeksha’ (protest) was organised by Telangana Rythu JAC here on Sunday and several parties, people’s organisations and farmers’ associations expressed their solidarity with the protest taken up in support of the farming community.
Speaking at the protest meeting, Prof. Kodandaram said the farming community is in dire need of protection from market exploitation, protection for spurious seed and pesticide traders and an assured income.
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He demanded immediate settlement of crop loan waiver in one go and compensation for loss suffered due to spurious seed and heavy rain.
“Our efforts to bring a movement in the government towards farming community is already showing results with the issue being debated widely and announcement about release of crop loan waiver amount,” the TJAC chairman said. He suggested the government to show income generation to farmers in activities allied to agriculture such as dairy farming.
The government should ensure timely institutional credit and supply of quality inputs such as seed, fertilizer and pesticides to farmers and also minimum support price to their produce, Prof. Kodandaram said and felt that there should be some protective mechanism in case they get spurious inputs. They should also get timely assistance against crop loss due to natural calamities, he said.
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Stating that irrigation projects were necessary to make agriculture dependable, he however felt that it was not a solution to all the problems being faced by the farming community.
Prof. G. Haragopal observed that the development model being followed in the country is ruining farmers, instead of helping them overcome the crisis. He pointed out that the crisis in agriculture is deeper than corruption. It is unfortunate that farmers are being pushed to corner for their failure to repay a few thousands of rupees loan when those evading hundreds of crores of rupees as dues are going scot-free.
Justice B. Chandra Kumar, Gummadi Narsaiah, Nandyala Narsimha Reddy, P. Padma, P. Ravinder, N. Prahlad, K. Raghu, Chukka Ramaiah, Pothuri Venkateswara Raoand several others spoke.