HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh Government has sought enhancement of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for paddy by Rs. 100 per quintal.

Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy will write a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday to hike the MSP as the labour charges and input costs had gone up. Dr. Reddy held a review meeting with Agriculture Minister N. Raghuveera Reddy and officials here on Sunday.

According to a press release from the Chief Minister's Office, Dr. Reddy stated that the Centre had recently announced enhancement of Rs. 100 per quintal for wheat, which had given a lot of relief for farmers in the North.

Similar initiative

He said the Centre should take a similar initiative and increase the MSP for paddy by Rs. 100. The area under paddy cultivation during kharif was 22.17 lakh hectares while it was 13.15 lakh hectares in rabi.

He said paddy production had touched a record 140-lakh tonnes in 2006-07. The Centre fixed Rs. 580 per quintal for common variety and the State Government paid another Rs. 40 as bonus. Grade `A' variety was procured at Rs. 610 per quintal. He said the Government had already urged the Centre to extend the duration of procurement of paddy for some more time.

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