K. Chandrashekar Rao, the Chief Minister of Telangana, on the 23rd of October, announced maize to be purchased at Minimum Support Price (MSP.)
During a review meeting on crops purchase and regulatory farming, KCR said maize would be purchased at MSP of Rs 1,850 per quintal for the current Vaanakalam season.
The maize will be purchased by the Telangana State Marketing Federation (TS MarkFed.)
Purchase centres established in the villages for the paddy procurement would buy maize in Telangana.
However, the Chief Minister urged farmers not to cultivate maize in the upcoming Yasangi season under any circumstances.
Under the regulatory method of cultivation, the Telangana Government would suggest the crop cultivation to farmers.
This season, the State Agriculture Department asked farmers not to produce maize.
Chandrashekhar Rao expressed disappointment over some farmers cultivating maize in the monsoon season despite repeated advice from the State Government.
Mr. Rao say, farmers who are going against the State Government’s advice would wsuffer losses as extra production of maize for this season would not get MSP.
The Chief Minister stated that the MarkFed purchased nine lakh tonnes at an expenditure of total Rs. 1,668 crores during the recent Yasangi season.
Mr. Rao said, “But the maize had no demand in the open market across the country and the entire yield was sold for only Rs. 823 crore through open auction, incurring Rs. 845 crore loss for TS MarkFed.”
Further, he explained that though the maize was purchased at Rs. 1,760 per quintal, the final cost incurred for the MarkFed was Rs 2,000 per quintal due to procurement and transportation charges. As the crop fetched only Rs. 1,150 per quintal, the MarkFed suffered loss of Rs. 850 per quintal.
Observing this, the State government urged farmers not to cultivate maize during the monsoon season.
The aforementioned topics were discussed during a meeting held at Pragati Bhavan, on the 23rd of October.
The Agriculture Minister of Telangana, officials of Agriculture Department and other senior leaders participated in the meeting.
Stay tuned for further updates.
