The Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha (KPRS), Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, All India Kisan Sabha and the Red Gram Growers’ Association, Chittapur, have planned different forms of agitations seeking better minimum support price (MSP) for red gram.
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, leaders of these organisations said that the MSP of ₹5,050 and the State government’s incentive of ₹450 a quintal were too less considering the cost of cultivation.
“As per a report submitted by the Agriculture Price Commission, the cost of cultivating red gram in an acre is between ₹18,000 and ₹25,000. Considering the per acre yield between three and four quintals, ₹6,500 is required to produce one quintal of red gram. Based on these calculations, the Karnataka government recommended an MSP of ₹6,500 a quintal for red gram, but the Union government gave only ₹ 5,050,” Maruthi Manpade of the KPRS said.
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The Karnataka government, he added, should increase its incentive from ₹450 a quintal to ₹1,500 a quintal so that its recommendation to the Union government would get fulfilled, he added.
Mr. Manpade criticised the Union government for harming the interests of domestic red gram growers by allowing duty free imports of the crop.
“We are not against imports. Our domestic pulses requirement is 222 lakh tonnes a year and our domestic production is 175 tonnes a year. If you consider the World Health Organisation’s recommendation of 80 grams of pulses per day per person, the domestic requirement would further grow. We may have to import pulses when domestic production is not enough to meet the demand. But, we should impose at least 30 per cent import duty so that domestic growers could compete with corporate firms in the import business,” he said. Mr. Manpade alleged that the Union government was not imposing taxes on red gram imports just to favour Adani group, a major importer of foodgrains, sacrificing the interests of domestic growers.
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Mr. Manpade said that the farmers’ organisations would launch coordinated struggles at various levels demanding increase in MSP for red gram.
As the first step, red gram growers’ representatives, along with M. Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha and Sharanprakash Patil, Medical Education Minister and Kalaburagi in-charge, would meet Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Radha Mohan Singh and Ram Vilas Paswan and discuss their demand 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 said.
Farmers’ leaders Ambarish Gowda Balabatti, Ashok Myageri, and Moula Mulla were present.