Focus on Chilli and groundnut markets: Minister Tummala

Nearly three-fourths of the cultivable area in the State was covered under two or three major crops because of the policies that promoted selective crops, said Tummala

Hyderabad: Agriculture and Marketing Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao said on Tuesday that the government was working in the direction of ensuring remunerative price for all the crops raised in the State.

In an official release issued here, he said nearly three-fourths of the cultivable area in the State was covered under two or three major crops because of the policies that promoted selective crops. Efforts were on to extend due support to all the crops grown in the State. Every crop would extended marketing support with right pricing and the problem of frequent price fluctuations would be addressed.

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The focus would mainly be on the Chilli and groundnut markets. State level and zonal-level marketing officials were being deputed to markets with high value purchases. They would be reporting from time to time on the arrivals and purchases. Over 3.91 lakh acres of area was under the Chilli crop this season. About 94,395 metric tonnes of red chilli had already arrived in the markets and another 3,37,014 metric tonnes was expected in the next few weeks.

The chilli purchases would be hassle free and the farmers would be ensured remunerative prices, he assured. The groundnut crop has been raised in over two lakh acres during the Yasangi. The groundnut arrivals touched 93,000 tons so far.

Officials from the Agriculture and Horticulture departments were directed to visit the districts where chilli and groundnut are grown in abundance along with the district officials concerned, to educate all the farmers on the benefits of moving their products to the market yards. At least another 46,000 tons of groundnut was expected to arrive in the market yards this season.