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Our Bureau

Thiruvananthapuram, June 13

The Kerala Government has expressed unhappiness over the support price for paddy announced by the Centre.

The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Mullakara Ratnakaran, said here on Thursday that the support price indicated the Centre’s approach to paddy farmers was ‘negative’.

He pointed out that the State Government had announced procurement price of Rs 10 a kg for ordinary paddy and Rs 10.50 for A grade paddy. “The Centre’s support price of Rs 8.50 was insufficient and did not reflect the ground realities,” he added.

He noted that the support price was way below the rates recommended by the Central Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices.

In addition, the meeting convened by the Union Agriculture Minister in Hyderabad recently was also not in favour of declaring a higher support price for paddy.

Mr Ratnakaran said the State Government had informed the Commission its views on the issue in a letter on April 11.

The State Government went in for higher procurement prices in order to provide relief to the farmers and was looking forward to the Centre to announce a minimum support price of Rs 10 a kg.

The Government had asked for a scientific formula to arrive at the minimum support price at the state level considering the high degree of variation in the cost of production. In its letter, the State had said that going in for a uniform minimum support price for a particular crop at the national level was not rational.

For instance, the productivity of paddy in Kerala was lower than that of many other paddy-growing states. Besides, the cost of production of paddy in the State was the highest in the country, the Minister said.

More Stories on : Agricultural Policy | Rice | Kerala

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