GULBARGA: Agricultural Marketing Minister Sharanabasappa Darshanapur today assured a delegation of the Karnataka Pranta Raita Sangha (KPRS) that he would arrange a meeting with the Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy in Bangalore soon to discuss the demand for increasing the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of red gram. The demand was to increase it from the existing Rs. 1,800 a quintal for A grade variety and Rs. 1,720 a quintal for the B grade variety to Rs. 2,100 a quintal.

KPRS activists led by its president Maruti Manpade, also the State secretariat member of the CPM, came in a procession to the Vallabhai Patel Chowk. They staged a protest in front of the Deputy Commissioners office and later marched to the Iwan-e-Shahi Government Guest House to meet Mr. Darshanapur. During the meeting, the KPRS delegation told the Minister that the MSP announced for red gram was unscientific and was not commensurate with the average expenditure incurred by the red gram growers for cultivating the crop. Mr. Manpade pleaded with the Government that it should have held detailed discussions with the representatives of the farmers' organisations before announcing the MSP. Unilateral announcement of MSP after consulting the officials was not acceptable to the farmers.

He said the delegation could meet the Chief Minister during his visit to Bidar city on December 27. However, the KPRS delegation rejected the offer stating that no decision could be taken in Bidar since concerned officials of the Agriculture Department would not be present.

The delegation also urged the Minister to financially strengthen the Red Gram Development Board and make it self-sufficient to take up research and development activities and set up a dal processing unit. They demanded that the board be provided a sum of Rs. 100 crore as seed money. The delegation also had a lengthy discussion on the proposed amendment to the APMC Act and said that this would go against the interest of the farmers and traders and open up agriculture sector to FDI. However, the Minister defended the amendment to the APMC Act and said this would ultimately help the farmers. Mr. Darshanapur said he was open to discussion on the impact of the amendment with the farmers' organisations.

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