Telangana to buy maize at Rs 1,850/quintal

HYDERABAD: Lamenting that some farmers had cultivated maize against government’s advice in the vanakalam, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao announced that the government would purchase maize at Rs 1,850 per quintal through Markfed and urged the farmers to utilise the opportunity.
“The government has no responsibility to purchase the maize but decided to buy it so that farmers need not suffer any loss,” KCR said during a review meeting on agriculture and maize procurement.
The government, through the Markfed, had purchased nine lakh tonnes of maize in summer by spending Rs 1,668 crore. Since the maize did not get any price in the open market, it was auctioned. In the open auction, Markfed got only Rs 823 crore and suffered a loss of Rs 845 crore. Last year, Markfed had purchased maize at Rs 1,760 per quintal and the cost touched Rs 2,000 per quintal with transportation charges.
KCR said Telangana is the only state implementing several pro-farmer and pro-agriculture polices and schemes.