Hyderabad: Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao on Thursday urged the Centre to increase Telangana farmers support through higher procurement, storage assistance and better price mechanisms for key crops.
The minister met Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at ICAR-IIOR in Rajendranagar and discussed problems faced by farmers in Telangana.
Tummala Nageswara Rao said the state government was focusing on farmer welfare, crop diversification, horticulture expansion and water conservation. However, he said Telangana needed additional assistance from the Centre in procurement and logistics support.
The minister stated that maize and jowar cultivation covered nearly 20.29 lakh acres during the Yasangi season. He added that production was estimated at around 47.23 lakh metric tonnes.
According to him, maize prices remained near ₹1,800 per quintal in markets despite the Centre fixing the MSP at ₹2,400 per quintal. Therefore, many farmers faced financial losses.
Telangana farmers support sought for procurement expansion
Tummala Nageswara Rao said the Telangana government opened 336 procurement centres and purchased nearly 11.45 lakh metric tonnes of maize from farmers.
He requested the Centre to include maize and jowar under the Price Support Scheme and allow procurement of 14.90 lakh metric tonnes of maize and 2.01 lakh metric tonnes of jowar through central agencies.
Further, the minister sought additional support for transportation, storage and logistics infrastructure across the state.
He also raised concerns over sunflower cultivation and said procurement permissions remained inadequate. According to him, the Centre allowed procurement of only 3,690 metric tonnes despite higher production levels.
The minister requested an increase in the sunflower procurement limit to 15,262 metric tonnes. He warned that small and marginal farmers could suffer losses because of low market prices and crop damage caused by unseasonal rains.
Tummala Nageswara Rao also highlighted Telangana’s expansion of oil palm cultivation, drip irrigation and horticulture farming. In addition, he urged the Centre to formulate a clear policy on herbicide-tolerant cotton seeds while protecting farmers’ interests.
