HYDERABAD: Former minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLA V. Prashanth Reddy has issued an urgent appeal to the Telangana State Government, demanding the immediate establishment of procurement centers for maize. His plea emphasizes the critical need to purchase maize from farmers at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and to provide an additional bonus of at least ₹400 per quintal.
Speaking to reporters in Velpur, Nizamabad district, on Thursday, Reddy highlighted the severe financial hardship faced by maize farmers. He stated that in the absence of government market intervention, private traders are exploiting farmers by buying their produce at drastically low prices, ranging from ₹1,600 to ₹1,800 per quintal. This is significantly below the declared MSP of ₹2,400 per quintal. Such practices are causing farmers to incur losses of approximately ₹30,000 per acre.
Reddy urged the government to set the procurement price at ₹2,800 per quintal, which includes the ₹400 per quintal bonus on top of the MSP. He pointed out that maize was cultivated across approximately 6.45 lakh acres during the Kharif season, and in his Balkonda constituency alone, 60% of the harvest is already complete. The MLA underscored that these private traders are continuously taking advantage of farmers, who, with an average yield of about 30 quintals per acre, are losing a substantial ₹30,000 per acre due to these exploitative low prices.