Farmers under the banner of the Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangam staged a demonstration in front of the Prakasam Bhavan here on Thursday demanding a fair compensation for those who had lost their chilli crop to rampant pest attack.

Leading the protest, APRS District Secretary Pamidi Venkat Rao said a majority of the farmers had not got the benefit of yield-based or climate-based crop insurance due to alleged indifferent attitude of the agriculture department officials at the time of e-crop booking. Even those who had registered their names did not get full compensation as their lands were classified as arid ones.

The farmers raised slogans demanding a minimum compensation of ₹75,000 per acre to each chilli grower by the State government.

They also pressed for a bonus of ₹1,000 per quintal to paddy growers, who were finding the cultivation of the water-consuming crop unviable due to unfavourable market condition.

Each farmer has to shell out ₹1,800 to grow one quintal of paddy, he said, adding that the price realised in the market, however, was between ₹1,000 and ₹1,200 only.

Crop Cultivator Rights Card

As a result, a majority of them had no option but to go for crop holiday. Tenant farmers were in the most unenvious position as the promised Crop Cultivator Rights Card(CCRC) eluded most of them. As a result they did not get any of the farm subsidies announced by the Union and State governments, they said.

Source - https://www.thehindu.com