Bengaluru: Deeply concerned over reports of farmers getting extremely low prices for onions in the state, the Cabinet on Wednesday decided to announce a support price of Rs 11 a kg for onions procured from the open market.
The government also decided to seek compensation to the tune of Rs 3760.29 crore from the Union government to disburse crop compensation to those farmers who had lost out due to the drought as well as flooding of their fields in recent months.
Speaking to reporters after the Cabinet meeting here, Law and Parliamentary affairs minister T.B. Jayachandra said, “The flood and drought is nothing short of a double blow for our farmers, who are the worst affected lot because of natural calamities. Due to this, state farmers have incurred a loss of Rs 14630.85 crore till now. Therefore, the cabinet has decided to seek financial assistance from the Union government.”
The minister further added that despite the state suffering heavily from floods as well as drought, Karnataka has received a bumper onion crop this year.
“Although we have a bumper crop, the prices are not encouraging. Therefore the state Cabinet decided to announce a support price for onions,” he explained.
The minister added that the state government had also decided to set up fodder banks and take steps to supply drinking water in those places which are facing an acute shortage of water due to the deficient monsoon.
