The State government has requested the Centre to give appropriate directions to banks through regulator Reserve Bank of India (RBI) so that the farming community is not forced to face any credit crunch by ensuring sanction of sufficient crop production loans without any restrictions in the wake of coronavirus lockdown.
It was one of the several issues linked to the farming community, including the ongoing paddy procurement, taken to the Centre’s notice by Minister for Agriculture S. Niranjan Reddy on Wednesday, in a video-conference conducted by Union Agriculture Minister Narendera Singh Tomar. Another key issue raised by Telangana was about the seed packaging material stuck in Singapore in the wake of lockdown measures.
Mr. Niranjan Reddy pointed out that farming community in the country would face seed scarcity during the next kharif season since about 400 private and multinational seed companies, whose processing and storage facilities are located in Telangana, meet about 70% of the country’s seed needs. Besides, they also export seed to several Asian and African countries and urged the Centre to resolve the issue and arrange for getting the material for seed packing.
On the problems faced in disposal of sweetlime produced in Telangana, mostly in Nalgonda district, due to the lockdown, Mr. Reddy noted that the fruit crop sales were mostly operated with Delhi as center but farmers are unable to transport the produce. The Centre was urged to arrange for transport of sweetlime so that the farmers are saved from incurring huge losses.
Paddy procurement
Highlighting the huge gunny bag shortage being faced in Telangana for procurement of the major crop, the Minister said about 1.03 crore tonnes of paddy is had from about 40 lakh acres cultivation. In the wake of lockdown measures, the State government has arranged procurement in almost every major village by opening 7,077 purchase centres by giving farmer-wise coupons in advance.
All the market yards in constituency headquarters, other towns and cities were also closed to prevent the virus spread.
However, against the requirement of about 20 crore gunny bags, the available numbers within the State, including the old (once in use) is about 8 crore and they would be sufficient to procure only half of the estimated production of paddy. He requested the Centre to arrange for transport of gunny bags from West Bengal to overcome the problem.
Reiterating the State government’s demand for linking MGNREGS with agriculture, Mr. Reddy explained about labourer problem and stated that harvesting of paddy was being done only with the help of harvesters now. He also explained sale of vegetables and fruits through 300 mobile bazaars in Hyderabad during the ongoing lockdown.
