CPM flays Centre, State apathy to farmers’ plight

 Khammam: The central and the state governments should set up a special chilli board and purchase chilli crops through Markfed and Nafed and farmers should be provided with remunerative prices. Besides, the central government should enact a support price law in Parliament. Farmers should be provided with investment assistance for crops, CPM Khammam district secretary Nunna Nageswara Rao and CPM State leaders Yarra Srikanth demanded.

On Wednesday under the auspices of the CPM Khammam division committee, a CPM delegation visited the chilli market yard in Khammam to know the prices of chilli farmers and the prices being paid for their chilli crop.

On the occasion, Nageswara Rao and Yarra Srikanth said that the central and the state governments should go to rescue of the chilli farmers who are flooded with fake seeds. Last year, the price of chilli was around Rs 25,000 per quintal, but this year the price dropped to Rs 15,000. In reality, farmers were getting only Rs 13,000 per quintal. In the absence of a minimum support price for cotton and chilli, the farmers were facing hardships, they said.

Therefore, the central government should utilise the Markfed system and fix the price for chilli, ensuring a minimum support price for the farmers. The state government should also put pressure on the central government in this regard. It should also provide farmer assurance or investment assistance.

Later, the leaders explained the farmers’ issues to market chairman Hanumantha Rao and the market secretary.