Minister for Agriculture S. Niranjan Reddy and Rythu Bandhu Samithi (RBS) chairman Palla Rajeshwar Reddy alleged that the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders were resorting to “petty politics” over procurement of rabi crops.
Speaking separately here on Thursday, the two functionaries of the State government said that by resorting to petty politics over the ongoing procurement exercise of all rabi crops, the two opposition parties were trying to hurt the confidence of the farming community. Alleging that the BJP leaders were trying to gain some political mileage by planning the protest over procurement, Mr. Rajeshwar Reddy suggested the BJP leaders make a demand for procurement of all crops by the Centre at minimum support price (MSP).
Admitting that there was problem of ‘hamalis’ (labourers) in the wake of lockdown for loading and unloading paddy being procured from farmers at the procurement centres and at rice mills/storage points, the RBS Chairman said the movement of paddy was slower than expected due to it. About 20,000 lorries had to move the paddy from procurement centres every day to keep space for new purchases.
With a view to help the farming community during the current crisis, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had announced procurement of all rabi crops in the State at MSP, Mr. Rajeshwar Reddy said, adding that there were problems of moisture and chaff content in the paddy being brought to some purchase centres by the farmers. The quality specifications for procurement of paddy fixed by the Centre including keeping the moisture content below 17% were not being followed by farmers sometimes, he pointed out, adding that millers were not accepting the paddy with more than permissible limit of moisture and chaff.
He also suggested the BJP leaders to pursue with their Central leadership to convince the Centre to link MGNREGS with agriculture. Stating that there was no State in the country other than Telangana which was procuring agricultural produce by sparing ₹30,000 crore, Mr. Niranjan Reddy sought whether any BJP leader from the State demanded the Centre for funds to major irrigation projects or for establishment of turmeric board in the State.
They stated that about 11.63 lakh tonnes of paddy was procured at 5,187 purchase centres, over 1.89 lakh tonnes of maize at 923 centres, over 56,000 tonnes of bengal gram at 84 centres and about 2,300 tonnes of sunflower at 11 centres as on April 23. An amount of ₹333 crore was credited to the accounts of paddy farmers and another ₹46 crore to maize farmers accounts.
