G. Visweswara Rao, a turmeric farmer of Penamaluru village, is confused after harvesting the crop. Despite bumper yield, the “cap on procurement” worries him. He has reaped 40 quintals per acre while the yield is 20 to 25 quintals for other farmers.
“We have been told that the government will not procure more than 30 quintals from each farmer. I will run into losses if the rule is implemented,” says Mr. Venkateswara Rao.
The officials, however, assert that the farmers need not panic over procurement.
The Central government does not fix MSP for turmeric. So, the State government, in a first such initiative, announced MSP through GO 28 on January 9, 2020.
If the Centre announces MSP or Market Intervention Scheme (MIS), the higher rate will be the procurement price. If the Centre’s price is lower than the State MSP, the difference will be declared as bonus, the officials say.
Special Commissioner & Director of Agriculture and Marketing P.S. Pradyumna says the system has been introduced to avoid exploitation by the middlemen. The objective is to ensure that the farmer enjoys the benefit of MSP.
“The cap is fixed based on the average yield calculated by the Horticulture Department, but that should not be an impediment. The farmers always can revisit the procurement centre the second time,” he says.
Though the government has opened nine procurement centres in the State, the arrivals are yet to reach them. The harvest season has ended and the farmers are now getting ready to cut and process it for sale.
Horticulture Commissioner Chiranjiv Choudhary says that turmeric is cultivated in 29,654 acres across the State, except in Anantapur district. Visakhapatnam stands first with 8,500 hectares and Chittoor is at the bottom with 22 hectares. Srikakulam, Krishna, Guntur and Kadapa are some of the districts where the farmers have taken up turmeric cultivation to a significant extent. The extent of cultivation was 20,835 hectares in 2015-16. The expected yield this year is 3.55 lakh tonnes, he says.
Mr. Venkateswara Rao says that farmers will earn a profit of ₹10,000 to ₹15,000 per quintal only if the entire produce is procured at the procurement centres.