Karnataka Farmers in Crisis: CM Siddaramaiah's Plea to PM Modi

Karnataka's farmers are facing a major crisis as maize and green gram prices plummet below the government-declared Minimum Support Price. CM Siddaramaiah has reached out to PM Modi for immediate intervention to protect farmers, urging the use of the Price Support Scheme or alternatives to stabilize income.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has urgently appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, highlighting a significant downturn in maize and green gram prices that is causing severe distress among the state's farmers.

Siddaramaiah noted that Karnataka cultivated maize on 17.94 lakh hectares and green gram on 4.16 lakh hectares during this Kharif season. The expected yields were 54.74 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of maize and 1.983 lakh MT of green gram. Despite these expectations, current prices are alarmingly below the Minimum Support Price (MSP) set by the government, at just Rs 1,600 to Rs 1,800 per MT for maize and around Rs 5,400 per MT for green gram, compared to MSPs of Rs 2,400 and Rs 28,768 per MT, respectively.

Siddaramaiah has called for immediate MSP procurement through the Price Support Scheme or another viable method and urged measures to involve farmers fairly in the ethanol supply chain. He flagged concerns that many ethanol plants are bypassing farmers, purchasing maize through middlemen.

(With inputs from agencies.)