As the Centre has made it clear that it would not buy more than the required quantity of fine variety rice from the States the State government has decided to discourage farmers from cultivating paddy in the current sowing season. The district authorities were instructed to create awareness among farmers and discourage them from going for paddy.
As part of that Collector P. Venkatarami Reddy held a meeting with farmers and suppliers of seeds on Monday evening at Collectorate. “In the summer season do not go for paddy and opt for other crops. Going for paddy is not advisable. Let there be not a single acre of paddy. Cultivating paddy is suicidal,” commented the Collector. Noting that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has decided against procuring paddy, he said that the government, in the interest of the farmers decided not to go for paddy.
During his address, he reportedly made some comments, which went viral in social media. “Do not sell paddy seed. Once sold, the shop will be shut down and it would not be opened even if you get orders from the Supreme Court as long as I am Collector here. Do you understand? There is no question of bowing to pressures from any politician. Be careful,” the Collector is heard saying at the meeting in a video shared on social media platforms.
Directing the officials to create awareness among farmers by going to the villages, the Collector said that Minister for Finance T. Harish Rao would be organising a meeting with public representatives next month. Further, the Collector suggested that seed sellers to maintain adequate stock of groundnut, black-gram, green-gram, sesame, pulses, vegetables and oil seeds so that farmers need not go elsewhere for seeds. He warned that even officials will held responsible if paddy was sown in the district.
However, on Tuesday a press note was released by the officials stating that the Collector’s statement was wrongly quoted in the social media. “Farmers were asked not to go for paddy in their own interests. Alternative crops can get good remuneration in the open market and hence the farmers were asked to take up cultivation of those crop. Half truths are being circulated in social media which is not right,” said the Collector in the release.
