The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Chilli farmers promised all help

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Thursday, Feb 28, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Chilli farmers promised all help

Staff Reporter

Reasonable price will be provided even for crop damaged due to rain: Moily

Says he had come at the bidding of Sonia Gandhi to know the extent of damage
Tenant farmers who were the worst hit assured of good compensation

Photo: T. Vijaya Kumar

Reaching out: AICC general secretaries – Veerappa Moily and Iqbal Singh – interacting with farmers at Medikonduru in Guntur district on Wednesday. —

RAMAKRISHNAPURAM & MEDIKONDURU: The government will see to it that chilli growers do not resort to distress sale by asking the Markfed to intervene and provide reasonable price even for the crop damaged due to untimely rain, All-India Congress Committee general secretary Veerappa Moily has said.

Addressing farmers at these two places, which he visited to make a first-hand survey of the damaged crop due to rain this month in Guntur and Prakasam districts on Wednesday, Mr. Moily said that AICC president Sonia Gandhi had sent him and Iqbal Singh, another AICC general secretary, to get a first-hand report on the quantum of damage so that the Central Government could chip in with some help in addition to what the State Government had announced.

He said that a loan waiver was likely to be announced during the Union Budget, which would benefit many farmers.

Praising Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy for announcing an input subsidy of Rs.4,500 per hectare for small and marginal farmers in the villages that were affected following heavy rain, he said that it was the highest ever paid by any government in India.

Interacting with farmers at both the places, he assured all help to tenant farmers who bore the brunt of the damage and promised to put in place a mechanism to see that they got good amount of compensation through a reconciliation method with land owners at the village level.

MSP for cotton

State Agriculture Minister N. Raghuveera Reddy accompanied the two AICC functionaries and translated whatever Mr. Moily told farmers.

He promised the cotton farmers that minimum support price would be paid for the produce by asking the Cotton Corporation of India to buy the entire quantum in their villages.

The visit came as a surprise for many farmers as majority of them had forgotten the damage as it was very insignificant in a majority of the cases.

Agriculture Market Committee Chairman Lella Appireddy, MLC Rayapati Srinivas, Minister for Ports Mopidevi Venkata Ramana and Sattenapalle MLA Yerram Venkateswarlu were present.

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