VIJAYAWADA: The AP Agriculture Mission has asked the Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices to hike the minimum support prices of certain crops in the state.
The commission held a regional meeting on the fixing of the minimum support price in Visakhapatnam on Friday, in which five states and three union territories participated. These states were Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala. Scientists from agricultural universities and farmers attended the meeting.
The representatives of the states proposed minimum support prices based on the input costs of various crops harvested during the Rabi season.
Chairman of the Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices, Prof. Vijay Pal Sharma, official member Dr Naveen Prakash Singh, member secretary Anupam Mitra, and unofficial member Ratan Lala Daga participated in the meeting. On behalf of the state government, vice chairman of AP Agriculture Mission Nagi Reddy and special commissioner of AP Agriculture Ch. Hari Kiran participated in the meeting.
Speaking on the occasion, Hari Kiran said he had suggested the commission to fix minimum support price of peanuts at Rs 7,983 per quintal and mustard seeds at Rs 6,608 per quintal. He said he sought a hike as small and marginal farmers were involved in raising these crops. He said MSP was being raised by only 5 per cent periodically while input costs were going up by 20 to 25 per cent.
Nagi Reddy said AP was the only state to give input subsidies to farmers harvesting on endowment lands and lease farms.
Sharma said minimum support would be fixed on the demand and harvest of agriculture products and he would never work under political pressure.
