The Telangana government decided on Sunday to not set up purchase centres in villages to buy agriculture produce from farmers, as it was a one-time facility provided on humanitarian grounds during the COVID-19 pandemic. The state government is also mulling rolling back its agricultural policy of advising farmers what to grow ahead of the cropping season.

The farmers will have to bring their produce to agriculture markets as before. With agricultural market yards shut during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Telangana government had set up market yards at village level with an assured Minimum Support Price (MSP), and the move helped the farmers with a minimum price for their products. However, it cost the state exchequer Rs 7,500 crore, and the state government was unable to resell the crops for a better price.

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting headed by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday. A token system will be brought in at market yards to ensure that all farmers don't turn up at the market on the same day.

State planning commission vice-chairman B Vinod Kumar told Times of India that offering MSP to farmers was the responsibility of the Union government.

The officials said that ever since Telangana was formed, the government incurred heavy losses due to the purchase of various crops. The government has so far incurred losses to the tune of Rs 7,500 crore due to the purchase of paddy, sorghum, maize, red gram, Bengal gram and sunflower. Though the government had purchased this agriculture produce by paying the Minimum Support Price (MSP), it had to sell them at the lower prices in the market as there was no demand for these crops.

The KCR government is also mulling to stop advising farmers on what crop to cultivate as the policy did not sit well politically with farmers. Officials who attended the meeting had reportedly expressed views that there was no need for the state to regulate farm policy.

The Chief Minister announced that all the farmers in the state would be given financial assistance under Rythu Bandhu from Monday. He stated that Rs 7,515 crore in financial assistance was given to 61.49 lakh farmers for 1.52 crore acres of cultivated land at the rate of Rs 5,000 per acre for the 2020 summer season. The CM has instructed the officials concerned to ensure that every farmer gets the assistance in his bank account directly for each acre.

The Chief Minister also directed agriculture officers to ensure the effective implementation of the Rythu Bhima scheme. When the Rythu Bima scheme started, Rs 630 crore was paid as the instalment but many farmers registered their land among their family members so that they are all covered by the Rythu Bima policy. Hence, the number swelled and the premium doubled. This year's instalment is Rs 1,144 crore, but the government has decided to continue the scheme.

Rao also directed the officials to continue 24x7 free power supply and ensure that the farmers get quality seed, fertilisers, and pesticides.

(With IANS inputs)