Will bring in new rules soon to help farmers get benefits directly: H D Kumaraswamy

Bengaluru: Speaking of the government's commitment to curbing middlemen in the agricultural sector, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Thursday announced that rules would soon be put in place to ensure that the benefits due to farmers reached them directly.

The Chief Minister, who had a meeting with farmers during the day, said the government was aware of middlemen fleecing them in APMC yards, open markets and duping them even in the disbursement of benefits.

“We also know that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) announced by the government is helping only the middlemen and not the farmers. The government announces the MSP when it starts procuring the agricultural produce, but by then many farmers would have made distress sales of their crops. To ensure that they benefit from the MSP we will in future t announce it even before harvesting,” he said. Mr Kumaraswamy asserted that the government was on the right track where farm loan waiver was concerned.

“There were some issues with nationalised banks, which were going back on their promises. While some of these issues will be addressed during the coming winter session of the legislature in Belagavi, the rest will be taken care of in the next budget, which I will present in February,” he added.

To a question by a farmer, who wanted to know about the compensation for coconut growers, who had lost their trees to mites, the Chief Minister said the government was framing rules to ensure that farmers got the compensation directly.

“We have earmarked Rs 198 crore in the budget towards this,” he added.