Hyderabad: The Telangana government will constitute mandal-, district- and state-level farmer associations which will have the authority to fix prices of crop produce in a bid to create a minimum support price (MSP) system, said chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
Rs500 crore will be allocated to farmer federations in order to help them get a MSP, said Rao.
“The State Farmers Federation will intervene and give the difference of money when the rates are down to help the farmer get Minimum Support Price,” a statement from the CM’s office said on Sunday night.
The chief minister said that by allotting Rs500 crore to farmer federations, the issue of the agricultural community not getting MSP will be solved.
Agriculture scientists will decide on which crops to be cultivated based on the quality of soil, temperature, weather, availability of water etc. in the state, said the statement.
“We will provide support to export the produce to other states and countries after consumption within the state,” Rao said.
He added that the government is currently supplying nine hours of electricity to farmers and is constructing godowns with a storage capacity of 21.5 lakh metric tonnes to help them.
The statement follows violent incidents in Khammam district on 28 April, where the agricultural market yard was ransacked allegedly by chilli farmers, after a sharp drop in chilli prices this year compared to last year.
On 27 April, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) state government had mobilised thousands of farmers in a show of strength at Warangal district as part of the party’s foundation day celebrations.
Rao recently also announced a financial assistance scheme for farmers through which they will get Rs8,000 per acre for cultivation of kharif (Rs4,000) and rabi (Rs4,000) crops from next year.