The first Organic-cum-Nursery Expo, which is under way at the Siddhartha College of Hotel Management grounds here, has become a venue for the farmers to give vent to their frustration.
The farmers, who have been under stress for the last few months for not being able to get the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for their produce, lost their patience. The airconditioned (AC) hangar, apparently, for the display of agriculture tools, seeds, fertilizers and new technologies, has not enthused them.
All they want to know is the government’s response to falling prices of agriculture produce and lack of remunerative prices. They were seen shouting at the top of their voice at the venue on problems faced by the farmers. “Look at this venue. The government is spending crores of rupees for its publicity but hardly ensures MSP and remunerative prices to the farmers,” says Parikela Venkaiah, a farmer from Singannagudem village of Bapulapadu mandal in Krishna district.
Earlier black gram rate in the market was ₹9,000 to ₹10,000 per quintal. But the prices dropped down by 50%, which is not sufficient even to meet the expenses of cultivation. The government fixed the price at ₹4,200 per quintal pushing the farmers into distress, he says.
‘A big gamble’
R. Krishna Babu, another farmer from Marripalem village in Guntur district, adds the government has miserably failed in fixing the right MSP and ensuring remunerative prices making agriculture a big gamble. Foodgrains and vegetables are the only commodities for which prices are fixed by traders and not by those who produce them — the farmers. The government is remaining a mute spectator, he laments. Yelia, a farmer from Remilli village, says the government should have procured the black gram and saved the farmers from distress. It is only the farmer who is not sure whether he would get back his investments on agriculture. The prices of every other commodity such as soaps have increased beyond imagination but not the agriculture produce. Soap used to cost a mere ₹3 now costs ₹23. The agriculture produce has not seen that quantum jump. Though the farmer is selling black gram at a throwaway price, a kg costs ₹65 in the market. “Why is the government silent?” he asks.