Jonepelly Prakash Rao, a farmer of Kapparla in Tamsi mandal, Adilabad district has cultivated white jowar in 10 acres. He claims that he had sought the advice of agriculture officers before cultivation and officials gave him a green signal to go ahead.
Mr. Prakash Rao cultivated jowar in all the 10 acres and got a yield of 120 qunitals. While 20 quintals was sold to relatives and others at ₹ 2,200 per quintal, he had another 100 qunitals at his disposal.
The Union government has declared a Minimum Support Price (MSP) of ₹ 2,758 per quintal for the white jowar per quintal, higher than last year’s support price of ₹ 2,640 per quintal.
However, the State government has not yet commenced procurement and the officials are telling the farmers that they have written to the authorities at Hyderabad and are waiting for orders.
Mr. Prakash Rao claimed that in their cluster of three villages — Kapparla, Jamidi and Palodi — white jowar was cultivated in about 3,000 acres and almost the crop was harvested by farmers.
Same was the case of B. Vinod Reddy of Jamidi village in the same mandal. He cultivated jowar in two acres and he got a harvest of 40 quintals. “We had approached the authorities so far five times, including on Monday. Our repeated appeals and memorandums are not yielding any result. The standard reply from officials is that they are waiting for orders,” Mr. Vinod Reddy informed The Hindu.
Unable to wait for long and with the pressing requirement of money, farmers are selling the produce between ₹ 1,800 and ₹ 2,000 per quintal in the open market for traders. They are not in a position to bargain and this was the condition prevailing across the State, according to Sree Harsha Thanneru of Rytu Swarajya Vedika.
Actually the procurement was to commence in the first week of May but it is now already the third week of June, a seven weeks’ delay. Some farmers who can afford are putting their stock in the agriculture godowns and taking 75 per cent loan to meet their pressing demands. Some farmers in Adilabad district brought their produce to the market to stock it, informed Mr. Vinod Reddy.
“We are yet to receive orders from the State government to procure white jowar. The same is the condition across the State,” said a marketing officer on condition of anonymity.
