Red gram growers from Kanigiri region in Prakasam district staged a demonstration on Sunday after the procurement of their produce by the Primary Agricultural Cooperative Society (PACS) as part of the market intervention scheme was stopped.
Hit by the lockdown, the farmers came in large numbers to the procurement centre to liquidate their stocks piled up in the last two months.
First come, first served
The PACS purchased 100 tonnes of red gram from the farmers on a first-come-first-served basis at a remunerative price of ₹5,800 per quintal. However, the PACS officials stopped the procurement, saying that their quota had been exhausted.
Irked over this, scores of farmers who brought more than 300 tonnes of red gram staged a noisy protest, demanding that the procurement be resumed.
“There are no takers for the produce even at ₹4,500 per quintal in the market. We could not sell our produce for the last two months in view of the depressed market condition owing to lockdown,” complained a group of farmers.
The farmers who have cultivated red gram in more than 18,000 acres in Kanigiri region claimed that they had done the e-booking for their produce.
“The market intervention scheme will be resumed only after getting the clearance from the Marketing Department,” said PACS president S. Mohan Reddy.
Meanwhile, CPI(M)-led Kavulu Rythu Sangam State president N. Ranga Rao said that the produce brought by only a section of the farmers had been purchased by the Marketing Department.
“The government should procure the entire produce available with the farmers at a remunerative price,” he said.
