Hyderabad: The Union Agriculture Ministry has agreed to a request from Union Minister for Coal and Mines, G Kishan Reddy, to implement the Price Deficiency Payment (PDP) under the Central Government’s Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) to benefit chilli farmers in Telangana.

On Thursday, Kishan Reddy announced that when crops were sold in the market for less than the cost of cultivation, the Union Agriculture Ministry has assured that measures will be taken to ensure that chilli farmers do not incur any losses, at the very least covering their cultivation costs. The Union Agriculture Ministry has instructed the Telangana Agriculture Department to take necessary steps to implement this scheme in line with MIS guidelines.

On April 4 of this year, Kishan Reddy had previously written to Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, requesting action to prevent financial losses for chilli farmers in Telangana. He highlighted that farmers in the districts of Khammam, Mahabubabad, Jogulamba Gadwala, Bhadradri Kothagudem, Jayashankar Bhupalpalli, Mulugu, Suryapet, Warangal, Hanmakonda, and Nagarkurnool rely heavily on chilli cultivation but are currently receiving prices lower than their cultivation costs in the market.

In response to this request, the Union Agriculture Ministry announced that, for the financial year 2024-25, the scheme will be applied to 1,72,135 metric tonnes of the chilli crop produced in Telangana, which accounts for 25 per cent of the total 688,540 metric tonnes produced.

The scheme will pay farmers the difference between the market price and their cultivation costs under the Market Intervention Scheme, with the MIS price for chilli set at Rs 10,374 per quintal. It has been specified that the state government must first deposit the difference between the MIS price and the market price directly into the farmers’ accounts. The central government initiated this programme in light of reports that middlemen were purchasing quintals of chilli for as low as Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 6,000, effectively cheating farmers. The state government was urged to recognise and address the financial struggles that the chilli farmers in the state are facing.

The central government clarified that the state will bear 50 per cent of the costs. The central government will reimburse the remaining amount. It was also noted that only farmers who sell their chilli crops in recognised APMC markets will benefit from the market intervention scheme. Recently, the government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, introduced the Pradhan Mantri Aaya Surakshan Abhiyan (PM Asha) scheme to ensure farmers receive a minimum price amidst fluctuating crop prices, along with the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) for horticultural products, including chilli.