Maize farmers take to streets in Deputy CM Bhatti’s constituency in Khammam

Maize farmers in Khammam staged protests demanding the establishment of procurement centres. They complained of travelling long distances to sell produce and urged the government to ensure support price procurement and set up centres closer to farming areas

Khammam: Maize farmers took to the streets in Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka’s Madhira constituency in Khammam, demanding the setting up of a procurement centre.

A group of farmers staged a sit-in protest at Mushtikuntla in Bonakal mandal on the Khammam–Bonakal main road, holding maize cobs in hand and demanding the immediate establishment of a procurement centre. The protest brought vehicular traffic to a standstill.

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Speaking on the occasion, the farmers complained that due to the lack of a Markfed procurement centre locally, they were forced to go to distant places to sell their produce, bearing the transport costs.

AIKMS leader Bandela Venkaiah demanded that the government immediately resolve the issues being faced by maize farmers in Khammam district. He appealed to the government to set up procurement centres without delay and purchase maize at the support price.

Similarly, farmers in Nelakondapalli mandal in Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy’s Palair constituency demanded that the government set up a procurement centre at the mandal headquarters.

The government had set up a Markfed procurement centre at Muthapuram PACS, which was far from the mandal headquarters and the villages where maize was produced in large volumes. As a result, the farmers were forced to travel 10 to 20 kilometres to sell their produce, they said.

Maize was produced in around 2,800 acres of land in Nelakondapalli and surrounding villages, while it was produced in only 1,700 acres in four gram panchayats under Muthapuram PACS, said a farmers’ association leader, SK Nagulu.

The farmers said they were being troubled as officials failed to take the extent of crop and the volume of maize produced into account before setting up the procurement centre. Unable to travel to procurement centres, the farmers were compelled to sell their produce locally to middlemen, he complained.