Telangana won’t buy farm produce anymore: Agri Ministry

HYDERABAD: Clearing the air over procurement of crops, Telangana Agriculture Minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy categorically said that the State government would not be purchasing agriculture produce from farmers starting this Rabi season, and blamed the Central government’s new agricultural laws for the development.

Speaking at a meeting on building a marketing strategy for Rabi crops on Saturday, Niranjan Reddy said that in the absence of minimum support price (MSP) in the new agriculture laws, the State government could not purchase produce from farmers hereafter.

“This should be explained to the farmers,” the Minister directed the officials present at the meeting. The Centre would decide the MSP of various crops as per the new farm laws. “But there is no mention of MSP in the new laws. The State government cannot purchase produce from farmers because there is no MSP listed for any crop,” Niranjan Reddy pointed out.

On a separate note, the Minister instructed the officials to ensure that the chili produce does not arrive in markets at one go. “Utilise the existing 191 markets and 72 sub-yards for daily purchases. Agricultural produce should be stored not only in the existing godowns with a capacity of 24 lakh tonnes, but also at subyards.

As per our estimates, paddy was cultivated in 50 lakh acres and the estimated production will be 1.13 crore tonnes,” he said. He further asked the officials to make sure that the buying and selling processes were hassle-free for farmers. The Minister suggested that they plan the procurement in such a way that crop cutting was completed by March for Rabi season.