A State-level meeting will be organised by the sweet lime farmers in Nalgonda town on March 17 to discuss various issues, including eliminating middlemen, establishing farmer producer organizations (FPOs), promoting FPOs in sweet cultivation and sales, fostering unity among farmers for better prices, and other issues being faced by the sweet lime farmers, said sweet lime farmer and senior advocate Namireddy Srinivas Reddy.
In a statement issued on Thursday, he said that Roads and Buildings Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy had agreed to attend the meeting, being organised at at the SBR Function Hall. “Chairman of Telangana Media Academy K. Sreenivas Reddy, District Horticulture and Sericulture Officer (DH&SO) G. Sangeetha Laxmi, entomologist from the National Horticulture Board (NHB) Narsimha Reddy, T. Suresh Reddy from Sri Konda Laxman Telangana State Horticultural University (SKLTSHU), and others, including Nalgonda Municipal Chairman Burri Srinivas Reddy, will be the guests at the event,” he said.
Mr. Srinivas Reddy said that the farmers of Nalgonda district had been grappling with drought conditions. “The government and horticulture officials in the undivided Andhra Pradesh had promoted sweet lime cultivation in the district offering initiatives like subsidy on drip irrigation systems and subsidized farm tools. However, the promising start in horticulture soon soured as middlemen entered the scene, depriving farmers of fair prices for their produce,” he explained.
“Despite assurances from previous governments, the promises of market facilities in Nalgonda district are yet to materialize, leaving sweet lime farmers struggling to access markets for their produce. The sweet lime is reaching the harvesting stage in about 70,000 acres, valued at approximately ₹800 crore for this season,” Mr. Reddy said, and urged the farmers to participate in this meeting to collectively tackle the prevailing challenges. He said that the meeting would discuss the plans to be adopted to mount pressure on Central and State governments to take steps to provide support to sweet lime farmers, including fair pricing, agricultural tools, and subsidies for drip irrigation.
