Telangana Agriculture Minister Ensures MSP for Sunflower Farmers

Hyderabad: Agriculture minister Tummala Nageswara Rao on Friday instructed officials to start sunflower seed purchase centres from Saturday and ensure farmers that receive the minimum support price for their produce. At a meeting with officials of Markfed, Nageswara Rao urged sunflower farmers not to rush to sell their produce at lower prices. This Yasangi season, sunflower was grown in 21,350 acres in the state and the expected crop would be about 16,995 tonnes of sunflower seed. Since there are reports that the current market price for sunflower seeds was lower than the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 6,760 per quintal, Nageswara Rao said Markfed should set up purchase centres in areas where sunflower crop is grown, pay the MSP, and ensure that farmers are not put to a loss.