States should be allowed to decide MSP: Niranjan Reddy
Hyderabad: State governments across the country should be allowed to decide the Minimum Support Price (MSP) based on crop cultivation and other factors in their respective areas, and the Centre should procure the entire produce at the MSP decided by States, Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy said on Thursday.
Stating that the Centre should change its approach towards agriculture sector on which 60 per cent of the population was dependent in the country, he said: “The Centre is announcing MSP and washing its hands off the responsibilities of procurement. This is deplorable.” The Minister said the Central government should also implement the Swaminathan committee recommendations.
Stating that the Telangana government had so far deposited Rs 7,411.52 crore into the accounts of 62.99 lakh farmers under Rythu Bandhu scheme, Niranjan Reddy said this investment support will cover 1,48,23,000 acres across the State.
Among the districts, Nalgonda received the highest Rythu Bandhu assistance of Rs 601.74 crore and 4,69,696 farmers benefited through the assistance. The lowest was in Medchal-Malkajgiri district, where Rs 33.65 crore was deposited into the accounts of 33,452 farmers.
Giving details of the deposits so far, the Minister demanded that the Central government come out with a national policy for the welfare of the farming community in the country. “Farmers are facing a lot of problems due to shortage of farm labourers. The Central government should link NREGS with agriculture sector for the benefit of farmers,” he said.
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