GVL urges AP to aid chilli farmers

Visakhapatnam: BJP Rajya Sabha member GVL Narasimha Rao has urged the Andhra Pradesh government to immediately address the issue of payment of compensation to chilli farmers as an emergency measure. Talking to media persons here on Thursday, he said he had already written a letter to Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy on the issue on […]

Visakhapatnam: BJP Rajya Sabha member GVL Narasimha Rao has urged the Andhra Pradesh government to immediately address the issue of payment of compensation to chilli farmers as an emergency measure.

Talking to media persons here on Thursday, he said he had already written a letter to Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy on the issue on Wednesday. “Andhra Pradesh accounts for 40 per cent of mirchi production in the country while Telangana state produces 20 per cent. Both the states together account for 60 per cent of chilli production in the country. Mirchi is a commercial crop and we are exporting Rs.8,000 crore worth mirchi annually and India accounts for 40 per cent of the world’s exports of this commodity. However, this year, the mirchi farmers lost badly due to invasive trips pest all over the state and the government has not paid any compensation so far,” he said.

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In his letter, Narasimha Rao said that as chairman of National Taskforce on Chillies, he had convened a meeting of agricultural scientists from various national institutes in the regional office of Spices Board, Guntur on Tuesday to find ways to tackle with the invasive thrips pest in all chilli growing districts of Andhra Pradesh which was threatening to destroy the livelihood of farmers and the state agricultural economy as well in the future.

“Farmers are in deep distress as they have incurred expenditure of over Rs.1 lakh per acre for chilli cultivation and there is no possibility of any return from this year’s crop. As your government discontinued the Prime Minister Crop Insurance Scheme in the state, you have deprived farmers from claiming compensation for the crop loss from insurance companies. Further, as your government had introduced a free crop insurance scheme, paying compensation is an obligation on the part of the state government,” he pointed out in his letter to Jagan, and called for payment of adequate compensation to the farmers in the hour of crisis.