Harish Rao urges CM to support sunflower farmers

He explained the plight of farmers who have harvested sunflower across 20,829 acres in erstwhile Medak and Nizamabad districts.

Hyderabad: BRS MLA T Harish Rao has penned an open letter to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy urging immediate action to support sunflower farmers facing financial distress in Telangana.

He explained the plight of farmers who have harvested sunflower across 20,829 acres in erstwhile Medak and Nizamabad districts.

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In his letter, Harish Rao said following his request on February 22, Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao had assured to purchased the crop at Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 6,760 per quintal.

Though the market purchases commenced, only a fraction of the sunflower yield was procured so far. “The Central government agreed to procure only 37,300 quintals of the total crop yield of 1,65,800 quintals. This amounts to merely 25 percent of the crop. Hence, the State government should procure the remaining 75 percent from farmers,” Harish Rao said.

He lamented that this imbalance has left farmers at a disadvantage, forcing them to sell 75 percent of their crop at significantly lower prices.

Pointing out the initiatives of the previous BRS government where procurement centres were opened to ensure farmers received fair prices for their produce, Harish Rao urged the Chief Minister to intervene and support sunflower farmers.

He emphasised the need to purchase the entire sunflower crop at the MSP.