The regional extension center of Spices Board, announced by Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, would not help address the issues of turmeric farmers, who have been agitating for a full fledged turmeric board for the last 15 years, Telangana Turmeric Farmers’ Association (TTFA) president Kotapati Narsimha Naidu said.
In a statement, here on Tuesday, he said that regional centre would be of no use. Farmers could get benefited only when a board is established with an annual allocation of ₹100 crore. The turmeric growers must be paid a minimum support price of ₹15,000 per quintal of turmeric so that their all expenses for the cultivation of the crop are covered, he said.
Mr. Naidu said that the proposal for a regional centre in fact had been made by the Ministry way back in 2007, but farmers had rejected it then. Former member of Parliament K. Kavitha who made efforts and mobilized the support of chief ministers of six States had also rejected the proposal.
He said Member of Parliament Arvind who had made the promise to establish the board within five days did precious little towards the cause. Therefore, the turmeric farmers would launch the agitation again to meet their demands, he said.
