Crisis in agriculture under the coalition govt

Tadepalli, December 1:  Agriculture in Andhra Pradesh has plunged into a severe crisis due to back-to-back natural calamities and the absolute negligence of the coalition government, said former MLA and Avanigadda YSRCP incharge Simhadri Ramesh Babu. Speaking at the YSRCP central office, he warned that farmers are suffering without any form of assistance, even as another cyclone approaches and thousands of tonnes of paddy remain exposed in the fields.
Ramesh Babu criticised Civil Supplies Minister Nadendla Manohar for repeatedly claiming that the government is prepared to procure 51 lakh tonnes of paddy out of the 83 lakh tonnes expected this season, while not a single assurance has translated into action on the ground. He said farmers are left to fend for themselves with no preventive steps taken despite clear cyclone warnings, and paddy heaps across the state are getting drenched.
He expressed anguish that when YSRCP leaders visit fields to highlight farmers’ hardships, the coalition government resorts to blaming and maligning them instead of addressing the crisis. He pointed out that the government is refusing to purchase 1318 variety paddy, even though the seeds were supplied by the government itself through the Maruteru Research Centre. Shockingly, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu himself claimed that current varieties are only suitable for seed and not for consumption, an unscientific assertion, he said, noting that BPT and 2716 varieties are widely consumed.
Ramesh Babu said the collapse of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for farmers has pushed the sector into distress. Last year, under the YSRCP government, a 75 kg BPT bag fetched Rs. 2,200, while today the same is being sold at a distress price of Rs. 1,250. He added that Krishna district has 160 rice mills, of which only 72 have dryers, making procurement during emergency harvests even more difficult, unlike Godavari districts where mills have higher capacity with boilers. If the government had coordinated with millers in time, this crisis could have been avoided, he said.

He emphasised that traders, millers, and middlemen have completely taken over the procurement process, leaving farmers without MSP, gunny bags, or purchase centres. Even though the government boasts of sophisticated technology and disaster management capabilities, it has failed to protect farmers from crop damage or ensure timely procurement.