The TDP has attributed the “unabated farmer suicides” in Andhra Pradesh to the “anti-farmer” agricultural policies of the YSRCP government.
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Referring to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report, TDP Polit Bureau member Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy said the “faulty foodgrain policy” was responsible for the spate of farmer suicides in the State.
Market intervention covered only 67 lakh tonnes of 125 lakh tonnes of paddy produced by the farmers, he told the media on Saturday.
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The farmers realised only ₹1,200 per quintal, which was much below the minimum support price of ₹1,940 as the millers and traders ruled the roost, the former Agriculture Minister charged.
The millers and traders benefited with the market price for paddy spiking to ₹2,300 per quintal after the grains changed hands, he alleged.
Farmers were paid for the grains procured only after six months as against three days in Telangana, where one crore tonnes of paddy had been procured in one season, Mr. Reddy said.
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As a result, 1,065 people, who included 751 farmers and 314 farm workers, ended their lives in 2021, he said. It was 19% more than the count in 2020, he added.
“The wrong policies of the YSRCP government led to these suicides,” he charged, adding that the State had the dubious distinction of being third in the country in the number of farmer suicides.
People were unhappy with the “misrule” of the YSRCP government as 1,184 self-employed persons and 409 unemployed youths too had ended their lives in the last three years, the TDP leader alleged.
Excise policy
He also faulted the excise policy of the government. He opined that the government looked at liquor as a money spinner to mop up an additional ₹5,000 crore through sale of “sub-standard liquor” in the State-run shops, which had resulted in a spate of deaths. Moreover, it was against the YSRCP’s poll promise of introduce total prohibition, he added.