The long struggle of turmeric farmers for the establishment of Turmeric Board is partly successful with the announcement of a regional centre of the Spices Board by Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal in New Delhi on Tuesday. Notification for setting up the centre would be issued shortly, he said in the presence of Member of Parliament D. Arvind and BJP leaders from the district.
The announcement, however, did not satisfy the farming community as they said that nothing short of a full fledged board is acceptable to them. Therefore, they also declared that they would go for another bout of struggle till their twin demands of ₹15,000 per quintal of MSP and the board were met.
Member of Parliament D. Arvind, meanwhile, said that the regional centre would be headed by an IAS officer and would enable farmers to use modern methods in cultivation resulting in high yield of turmeric crop. It would ensure the provision of quality seed, necessary implements and technology for processing the crop.
He said that farmers would get help from the centre to directly export the crop which has good medicinal values and international demand.
It would be more than a board and farmers would get benefits with the implementation of cluster system and TIES scheme, he said and thanked Prime Minister Modi and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal for sanctioning the Spices Board regional centre.
Leaders celebrate
Meanwhile, BJP leaders did ‘palabhishekam’ to the portrait of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, here on Tuesday, for sanctioning the regional centre of Spices Board to be based in Nizamabad.
Speaking on the occasion, the party State executive committee member Dhanpal Suryanarayana said that the decades old dream of the turmeric farmers of the region comprising integrated old district, Jagtial and Nirmal districts where the crop is grown predominantly became a reality.
The farmers would get benefited with the board, he said.
Not adequate
Telangana Turmeric Farmers’ Association (TTFA) president Kotapati Narsimha Naidu said in a statement, here on Tuesday, that regional centre would be of no use. Farmers could get benefited only when a board is established with an annual allocation of ₹100 crore.
The turmeric growers must be paid a minimum support price of ₹15,000 per quintal of turmeric so that their all expenses for the cultivation of the crop are covered, he said.
Mr. Naidu said that the proposal for a regional centre in fact had been made by the Ministry way back in 2007, but farmers had rejected it then. Former member of Parliament K. Kavitha who made efforts and mobilized the support of chief ministers of six States had also rejected the proposal.