Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLA T Harish Rao on Sunday, March 2, criticized the Telangana government for failing to establish procurement centers for harvested crops.
In a letter to chief minister A Revanth Reddy, Harish Rao stated during the BRS rule, farmers were taught methods to increase oil seed production. “Currently, the sunflower crop is ready for harvest but no purchase centers have been set up in the state to sell its seeds,” he said.
The former Telangana finance minister alleged that farmers are forced to sell their produce to middlemen at Rs 5,500 -Rs 6000 per quintal. “The BRS government procured the sunflower seeds through the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) at a reasonable price,” he said.
The Siddipet MLA added that the NAFED had announced a support price of Rs. 7280. But as the centers have not been opened yet, the farmers are suffering severely. “The farmers are suffering a loss between Rs. 1000 to Rs. 2000 per quintal. On behalf of the farmers, I demand that sunflower purchase centers be set up immediately across Telangana,” he added.
He alleged that the Congress government is creating situations where farmers are worried just to plant oil crops.
He urged the chief minister to open the sunflower procurement centers across Telangana from tomorrow itself.
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