With his extensive sops to farmers, Y S Rajasekhara Reddy cannot be blamed for assuming that nobody can better his deal to them. But he has a thought coming what with the Chiranjeevi-led Prajarajyam planning to take him on the treatment given by his government to the farm sector. According to information available, aides of the star are now busy formulating policy plans that would make the farmers feel that the megastar, and not YSR, is their messiah.
“While the Union government gave a loan waiver to the tune of Rs 12,000-15,000 crore, AP’s farmers lost more than Rs 35,000 crore in the recent harvesting season due to government’s failure to streamline the agricultural marketing network in the state. The whopping sum was pocketed by middlemen,” claimed former MP Yalamanchili Sivaji who is one of the key advisers of Chiranjeevi on farm-related issues.
According to Sivaji, Prajarajyam would focus on farmer-oriented policies which were given little attention by the successive governments. “The farmers were forced to sell the paddy at Rs 600-650 per bag at harvest time which would have fetched now Rs 1,250. If the total production of paddy i.e., 203.50 lakh tonnes is taken into consideration, the farmers had to forego Rs 16,278 crore this season,” he said. Similarly, Sivaji said, at harvesting time groundnut had fetched farmers only Rs 3000 per quintal while the current price touched Rs 8,800. This translates into a loss of Rs 1,269 crore to the farmers.
Had the farmers had the marketing intelligence information about the impending price hike, they would not have sold their produce at the lower prices, he asserted. “Successive governments in the state did not utilize the market cess remitted by the farmers to strengthen the marketing system. Instead the amount is being diverted to the other purposes,” he said. “We are planning to organize interactive sessions with scientists, economists and stakeholders like farmers to understand the real issues of the sector. Based on the information gathered in these sessions, we will formulate a realistic and realizable agriculture policy,” said the farmer leader.
“While the Union government gave a loan waiver to the tune of Rs 12,000-15,000 crore, AP’s farmers lost more than Rs 35,000 crore in the recent harvesting season due to government’s failure to streamline the agricultural marketing network in the state. The whopping sum was pocketed by middlemen,” claimed former MP Yalamanchili Sivaji who is one of the key advisers of Chiranjeevi on farm-related issues.
According to Sivaji, Prajarajyam would focus on farmer-oriented policies which were given little attention by the successive governments. “The farmers were forced to sell the paddy at Rs 600-650 per bag at harvest time which would have fetched now Rs 1,250. If the total production of paddy i.e., 203.50 lakh tonnes is taken into consideration, the farmers had to forego Rs 16,278 crore this season,” he said. Similarly, Sivaji said, at harvesting time groundnut had fetched farmers only Rs 3000 per quintal while the current price touched Rs 8,800. This translates into a loss of Rs 1,269 crore to the farmers.
Had the farmers had the marketing intelligence information about the impending price hike, they would not have sold their produce at the lower prices, he asserted. “Successive governments in the state did not utilize the market cess remitted by the farmers to strengthen the marketing system. Instead the amount is being diverted to the other purposes,” he said. “We are planning to organize interactive sessions with scientists, economists and stakeholders like farmers to understand the real issues of the sector. Based on the information gathered in these sessions, we will formulate a realistic and realizable agriculture policy,” said the farmer leader.
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