BJP State president Somu Veerraju has demanded that the government take urgent steps to prevent the crisis-ridden paddy farmers in the Godavari districts from declaring a crop holiday.
“The government’s failure to provide quality agricultural inputs to the farmers and assured irrigation by strengthening canals and other infrastructure, and its inability to ensure remunerative prices have forced them to go for a crop holiday,” Mr. Veerraju said in a release.
The farmers were in a debt trap and had no other option, he said, insisting that the government act quickly.
Mr. Veerraju said paddy was grown in 12 lakh acres in the erstwhile East and West Godavari districts, but the farmers were in dire straits as the government failed in bailing them out of the crises.
The canals were not modernised in the last two decades citing the contractors’ reluctance to take up the works. The plight of the tail-end farmers was especially pathetic as water did not reach their fields, he said.
The quality of seeds was awful, but the government would not crack the whip on those making and selling spurious seeds. The State government was not promoting farm mechanisation in spite of support from the Centre, he alleged.
Mr. Veerraju further said middlemen continued to eat into whatever little returns the farmers were able to make, as the government turned a blind eye to the menace. Payments for the paddy procured at the Rythu Bharosa Kendras were delayed, Mr. Veerraju alleged.
The proposed crop holiday, which was a consequence of the government’s failures, had to be considered as an agricultural emergency, he added.
