Hyderabad: The crash in crop prices due to over-production which is adversely affecting farmers has prompted the state government to bring crop regulation scheme.
Under the scheme, the government will regulate ‘over-sowing’ of any crops that may result in overproduction and drop in prices.
Agriculture minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy said the scheme will be launched soon.
“The modalities are being worked out. We will soon launch the scheme to protect the interests of farmers,” Mr Reddy said.
The agriculture department will cap the crop sown area for all crops district-wise to ensure balance and see that there is no mismatch between demand and supply.
The farmers’ agitations against absence of MSP for chilli and violent incidents in market yards have been rocking the state for the past few days.
“Last year, chilli fetched nearly Rs 12,000 per quintal. With this, many farmers opted for chilli crop resulting in overproduction due to which the price fell sharply to Rs 3,000 causing huge loss to farmers. This is not confined to chilli alone. Similar situations are seen in case of tomatoes, turmeric etc every year. We don't want this situation to repeat again for which crop regulation is necessary,” Mr Reddy said.
He said the agriculture extension officers will visit each village and set the targets for crop sown area.
The loans offered by banks and subsidies offered by government will be linked to crop sown area to make farmers comply with the norms.
