BJP State president Somu Veerraju said on Sunday that the YSRCP and the TDP had supported the farm Acts in Parliament, but were making allegations outside to derive political mileage.
The Central government had clarified all the doubts raised by the opposition parties on the new legislations and conceded certain legitimate demands of the farmers.
The Acts were part of the reforms needed to revive the agriculture sector and double the farmers’ income, he asserted.
‘MSP will be ensured’
Participating as chief guest in a farmers’ convention organised by the party at Pedavadlapudi in Guntur district, Mr. Veerraju said one falsehood being spread was that the agriculture market committees in the States would become redundant if the Centre proceeded with the implementation of the Acts.
The Central government had been doing large-scale procurement of agricultural and horticultural produce. Farmers were benefiting a lot from it as they were no longer at the mercy of the middlemen to sell their crops. Minimum support price would be ensured, the BJP leader stated.
Mr. Veerraju further said the Centre had been cracking down on black marketers and brought out neem-coated urea, which curbs the menace of spurious fertilizers. Pesticides of substandard quality was another problem being tackled with all seriousness, he added.
Role of FPOs
Rajya Sabha member G.V.L. Narasimha Rao said nearly 10,000 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) were being set up to help the farmers in fetching remunerative prices.
He stated that the Central government announced the augmentation of infrastructure in the agriculture sector at a cost of ₹1 lakh crore, of which ₹10,000 crore would be given to Andhra Pradesh in a phased manner.
He said the incident in which hundreds of people fell ill in Eluru recently, apparently due to consumption of hazardous substances through food products, brought into focus the enhanced need for organic farming.
BJP leaders Pathuri Nagabhushanam, Ravela Kishore Babu, N. Ramesh Naidu, Chandu Sambasiva Rao, V. Srinivasa Raju and Patibandla Ramakrishna were among those present.