Ragi farmers in Karnataka hit hard by procurement policy
The Hindu
‘Farmers are selling their produce around 35% less than the MSP since government is delaying procurement’
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in the budget that 2022-23 is the ‘International Year of Millets’ and promised measures for their promotion. But in Karnataka, there are fears that farmers might again shy away from cultivating ragi, a millet consumed in the southern districts. While this millet had seen growth in the past few years, the crop is being hit by the lack of farmer-friendly procurement policy.
Since 2014-15 when the humble millet was introduced in the Public Distribution System (PDS) and subsequently Minimum Support Price (MSP) was introduced for ragi in 2015-16, the area under ragi cultivation had seen an increase by 14% and production increased by 7%. Also, with high-yielding crop varieties, production has gone up.
In fact, the decade before 2014 had seen an annual decline of area under cultivation by around 2% from – from about 9.38 lakh hectares in 2005 to 7.08 lakh hectares in 2014.
The election authorities are gearing up for the counting of votes cast in the simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh, scheduled to be held on June 4. The Collectors and Election Officers of Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli and Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) districts said on May 23 (Thursday) that their teams were ready for the counting of votes.
Responding to the prolonged water scarcity, the residents of the area took to the streets in protest on Wednesday. The protest, which drew attention to their plight, stopped only after the intervention of the police. It was not until 1.30 p.m. that a 4000-litre tanker was finally delivered by BWSSB, providing relief to the water-starved residents.