Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Maize arrivals picking up in Khammam market yards

By Our Staff Reporter

KHAMMAM Oct. 14. Maize arrivals are picking up in all the market yards in Khammam, but it is not so in the case of purchases.

The arrivals which started in the last week of August are expected to touch the peak by the end of this month. Though the Government has announced a Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs. 505 per quintal, the Government agencies which have opened purchasing centres, could not make their presence felt and farmers were still being meted out a raw deal in the market yards.

The Civil Supplies Corporation has opened six purchase centres in the district and some of them have been working for about a fortnight. But they could hardly make any purchases. In Khammam the have started making their presence felt only on Monday by purchasing about 241 quintals.

The marketing officials explained that the arrivals were around 5,641 quintals so far in October, 1,161 quintals in September and 324 in August. The traders were offering much less than the MSP. The civil supplies authorities rejected the stocks on the plea that the moisture content was quite high.

The peasant organisations were unhappy with the way the maize farmers were being treated in the market yard. The AP Rythu Sangham leader, T. S. Prasad, said that farmers who had about 13 per cent moisture in their maize crop also could not get their stock purchased by the corporation.

The situation was ultimately forcing them to dispose of their stock to the traders for a song. They said that the Government agencies could hardly purchase any stocks from the market during the first two weeks of the season. He pointed out that at least 20 to 30 per cent of the arrivals should be purchased by the Civil Supplies Corporation if the Government was genuinely interested in helping farmers through market intervention methods.

The Civil Supplies Corporation should be ready to buy about 50 per cent of the stocks in the yard in the peak season, he stressed. He urged the District Collector to shoulder the responsibility of the monitoring the situation personally so as to ensure a fair deal to farmers. He said that the arrivals of green gram and cotton were on the increase and the administration should focus attention on the conditions prevailing in the market yards at this juncture.

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