The Chairman of the State Agriculture Prices Commission Prakash Kamaraddy expressed his concern over the recent trend of the area under the foodgrains and oilseeds coming down steeply in the State. He said that there was urgent need to reverse this trend to maintain equilibrium in the demand and supply of foodgrains and oilseeds.
Addressing a press conference in Kalaburagi recently, Mr. Kamaraddy said the reduction of the area under jowar was 4.63 lakh hectares in the last one decade and the reduction of the area under the cultivation of ragi was 2.37 lakh hectares over the same period. The reduction in the area under the oilseed crops in the State was nearly 75 per cent. “Something needs to be done to reverse this trend. Farmers who have shifted to other crops for various reasons, including the low returns from food grain crops, should be convinced by offering good prices and other incentives to enable them to take up the cultivation these crops once again,” he said. The reduction of the area under the jowar last year itself was 50,000 hectares and the reduction in the area under the groundnut was 56,000 hectares. “This is a serious situation,” he said.
He said that the commission would also hold district and divisional-level workshops to educate the farmers on the need for taking up the cultivation of food grains and contribute to the food basket of the State. Mr. Kamaraddy said that the State government should also give up the centralised fixing of the targets of agriculture crops and empower the district-level officers to fix the targets based on the local conditions and redefine the targets as per the vagaries of the weather.
Stressing the need for scientific calculation of the cost of cultivation of individual crops, to fix the Minimum Support Price of the crops, Mr. Kamaraddy said that the commission had extensively toured 65 taluks in the State and held discussions with the various groups including farmers, APMC members and had prepared details of the cultivation cost of 17 crops, cultivated under wet and dry conditions.
He said that the commission would hold a joint meeting on October 29.
‘Centre must encourage fixing of crop targets at
district level’
