Bengaluru: The state government’s poor preparedness over ensuring a minimum price of agricultural products like paddy and maize is allowing the middlemen a free run to control prices as per their convenience. In the process, they play with the lives of poor farmers of the state who are already badly hit by their third consecutive drought.
According to a progressive farmer from Mysuru who raised the issue with the Chief Minister and Agriculture minister, paddy and maize rates have come down by Rs 200 per quintal in the last few days as middlemen are using the demonetisation issue to cheat the farmers.
Gireesha KS, a farmer from Mysuru, has raised the issue with CM and Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda through their social media pages. One of the issues raised by Gireesha is how middlemen are using the demonetisation as a ploy to cheat the farmers.
According to the farmer, for the last couple of days, middlemen have brought down the rate of a quintal of paddy from Rs 2,200 to Rs 1,700 in the state. “Paddy prices has dropped over Rs 300 per quintal in the last two days and maize by Rs 200 per quintal. Different prices are quoted in different places,” he alleged.
In Sindhanur of Raichur district, the rate of paddy per quintal has fallen from Rs 2,200 to Rs 1,700. In Mysuru it fell from Rs 2,400 to Rs 1,700.
Old notes: Gireesha also informed that even though central government and RBI have withdrawn the old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes from circulation, middlemen were paying the farmers with these banned notes.
“Everyone is misusing the name of Prime Minister Modi to exploit the farmers. The need of the hour is for the state government to step in,” he said. A few officials of the state agriculture department agree that the only solution for this problem is immediate intervention from the state government.
“Demonetisation has become an easy tool for middlemen to cheat farmers. The long-suffering farmers are already incurring huge losses due to drought,” explained an officer.
