Communist Party of India (Marxist) Srikakulam district secretary D. Govind on Saturday alleged that the representatives of cashew industries and traders formed a cartel to buy cashew nuts at throwaway prices from the farmers who were unable to get remunerative prices for their produce for the last couple of weeks.
Addressing the media conference here, he alleged that the industry heads were planning to shut their manufacturing units to ensure further fall in the price. He asked the government to fix ₹16,000 per quintal as minimum price so that the traders cannot play with the lives of cashew farmers who could not get even recoup the investment on the crop. Mr. Govind urged the State government to adopt Kerla model of purchasing system so that the farmers would get decent price for their produce.
