Andhra Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed the officials to ensure that every crop is being procured through Rythu Bharosa Kendra (RBKs) and to safeguard farmer’s interests by paying Minimum Support Price (MSP). The officials were given a target to procure 62 lakh Metric Tonnes of paddy against the total production of 93.61 lakh metric tonnes in Kharif season.
During a review meeting held here on Friday the Chief Minister asserted that RBKs will be serving as paddy procurement centres in near future. The Nellore incident should not replete. He instructed the officials to display the MSP of each crop at RBKs and educate farmers on the crops that need to be avoided and ways to maximise the yield for more profits.
The State government procured crops like Maize, Corn, Jowar, Onion, Tomato, Banana, Tobacco during the previous Rabi season by spending Rs 3200 Crore. Similarly, even this year the Chief Minister instructed the officials to purchase Rs 3300 crore of crops in Kharif through the market intervention fund and help the farmers.
The Chief Minister asked the Joint Collectors to take responsibility in educating farmers on government initiatives.
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The farmers should be told in advance about procurement at RBKs and local MLAs should also be involved.
The Chief Minister directed the Marketing Department (markfed) to purchase 30 percent of the crops in the villages and provide marketing facilities for the remaining 70 percent. He directed the officials to prepare crop plans and to focus on e-marketing platforms and to integrate the purchase centres and agents data in the outer market to e-marketing platforms. He told the officials to promote sortex variety of rice and also keep the broken rice for value addition. He directed the officials to increase the CCI purchase centres to ensure proper marketing for the crops and to safeguard the farmers from suffering losses.
The officials informed that 10 types of crops are being procured in khariff and also established 3,000 centres for purchasing paddy. With the help of CM-APP, the entire process of crop procurement and marketing is being monitored.
Discussing the purchase of cotton, the Chief Minister gave strict orders to avoid scams in the procurement of the crops and make a clear, transparent purchase benefiting the farmers.
Minister for Agriculture Kurasala Kannababu, Civil Supplies Minister Kodali Venkateswararao, Special Secretary for Agriculture Poonam Malakondaiah, Commissioner for Marketing Pradhyumna, Commissioner of Civil Supplies Kona Sasidhar and other officials were present at the review meeting.
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