Brahmavar: Farmers protest against government over minimum support price for paddy

Brahmavar: Farmers in Brahmavar on Saturday staged a protest against the government over its failure to announce the minimum support price for the fresh paddy crops.

They expressed their anguish by blocking vehicular traffic on national highway 66 and threshing sheaves of paddy plants to separate grains on the road.

The price fixed in Karnataka for paddy procurement is Rs 1,700 per quintal while it is Rs 2,740 in Kerala.

Farmers demand the support price to be at least Rs 2,500 per quintal immediately as they have already harvested the paddy and transported it to mills.  If not, the farmers want the government to arrange for procurement centres at the village level.

Protesting farmers also demanded the mills here to buy paddy grown by the farmers of the district on priority.

Farmer leaders, Jayaram Shetty Manuru, Bhoja Poojary Kota, Brahmavar sugar factory president, Baikady Suprasad Shetty, Brahmavar sugar factory director, Umanath Shetty Beloor and others were present.