YSR Congress Party on Monday demanded that the State Government call for an all-party meeting to discuss the loan policy and expedite supply of agriculture inputs to farmers for the khariff season.
“The Congress government seems to be in a slumber as it did not initiate any steps to gear up for the khariff season to help the farmers though the monsoon has set in. It has been taking TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu as a role model instead of YSR who stood for the farmers’ cause,” party spokesperson Gattu Ramachandra Rao told reporters here.
The State has failed on all fronts to address the problems of the farmers and has been giving agriculture the least priority as it made no efforts to draft the khariff policy though farmers from the Godavari delta had announced a crop holiday, not to say the woes upland farmers.
Supply of quality seeds, fertilizers and other agricultural inputs is the need of the hour besides announcing the agriculture policy and the flow of loans on time to the farmers who are being subjected to many hardships due the delay in loan scheduling and availability of agriculture inputs, he said.
The State did not convene State level Bankers Committee meeting to draft and finalise the loan policy nor did it take a decision whether to waive interest on agriculture loans or to reschedule them. The input cost is going up day by day with the cost of fertilizers, seeds and other inputs soaring and Government cutting the input subsidy, he said.
The prices of seeds and fertilizers have increased 12 times in the past two years while during YSR term it was not increased even once which shows that the Congress government is taking N Chandrababu Naidu, who described agriculture as a waste, as a role model, he said.
The subsidy on soya bean was slashed drastically and artificial scarcity is been created for seeds and fertilizers by hoarding or moving it to the wrong places. While agriculture operations are about to begin, the State seems to be in a political vacuum without making basic efforts to meet the khariff season demands.
This neglect by the ruling Congress and the previous TDP has reflected in the voting pattern but they refuse to learn any lesson, he said adding that YSRCP is identified with farmers among other sections. (INN)