The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Konaseema farmers declare ‘crop holiday'

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Wednesday, Jun 01, 2011
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Konaseema farmers declare ‘crop holiday'

Staff Reporter

AMALAPURAM: Upset over the denial of minimum support price to their produce, paddy farmers in all the 16 mandals of Konaseema region in East Godavari have announced that they are going to declare ‘crop holiday' for the coming kharif season.

The farmers, under the aegis of Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, staged a ‘rasta roko' in front of the Revenue Divisional Officer's office here on Tuesday seeking minimum support price (MSP) for paddy . Expressing anguish over the existing prices for paddy and the manner in which it was being procured by the government, the farmers said that there were no returns from agriculture to them due to the “lopsided policies.”

Farmers from Amalapuram, Katrenikona, I. Polavaram, Inavilli, Allavaram, Uppalaguptam, Mamidikuduru, P. Gannavaram, Razole, Ambajipeta, Mummidivaram, Atreyapuram, Ravulapalem, Kottapeta, Malikipuram and Sakhinetipalli mandals announced that they would not cultivate their fields.

Middlemen benefited

President of Rytanga Samakhya's State unit Yerneni Nagendranath, addressing farmers, accused the government of pushing the farmers into such a situation. “Farming is only helping the dealers of fertilizer and pesticides and the middlemen to mint money. Notwithstanding the quantum of produce, the farmers are incurring losses in every crop season,” he said.

Observing that the taxation on rice was much higher than that of gold, Mr. Nagendranath said that the government policies were not at all farmer-friendly. “It is not just the farmers who cultivate paddy, but each and every farmer in the State is suffering losses,” he said.

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