The Chairman of Telangana’s Rythu Samanvaya Samithi (RSS,) Gutha Sukender Reddy expressed his discontent with the hike in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) in crops. He called it “mere eyewash” with very little benefits to help the farmers.
According to Mr. Reddy, The K. Chandrashekar Rao Government in Telangana was demanding for a raise in MSP for paddy procurement to Rs. 2000 per quintal. This is a sharp Rs. 250 hike from the Centre’s decided price which stands at Rs. 1,750 per quintal. In his opinion the new MSP rates have been raised by only Rs. 200 after four years of the NDA Government. The NDA Government came to power with a lot of promises to the farmers. Yet, it failed to pay heed to the ongoing farmers’ crisis.
This small hike would do very little to help the farmers, especially in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh where paddy is a major crop. Also, the MSP hike has come with the rise in price of fertilisers that has a possibility of pushing farmers back to a dismal state.
The RSS Chairman, however, opined the hike in MSP of cotton and millet is a welcom move. According to him, this hike may create additional financial burden for the states. He suggested the Centre should procure the entire crop produce in all states and allocate sufficient staffs at procurement centres to avoid farmers from going to private market players.
According to Reddy, Telangana State is the only state procuring most crops through MSP and providing farmers input assistance. The Telangana Government has decided to provide input assistance to farmers from the Kharif season of 2018. The Government will provide farmers Rs. 4000 per acre per crop to purchase seeds, pesticides, fertilizers, and urea.
The two schemes, Rythu Bandhu and Farmers’ Insurance Scheme, exclusive to Telangana will facilitate the farmers’ betterment in the future.
