[1]Vijayawada: Former Rajya Sabha member Yelamanchili Sivaji, in a pre-budget consultation meeting on farmers issues with Union minister of finance Mr P. Chidambaram, recently proposed several farmer-friendly policies.
The former MP suggested a commission on agricultural costs and prices in each state so that the state commission could fix MSP for agricultural produce considering local conditions. The government should consider an indexation system for the MSP as done in calculating the DA according to the spiralling cost of living. He appealed to the government to improve production of pulses and oil seeds to make the country self-sufficient and to save foreign exchange.
Mr Sivaji suggested decentralisation of paddy procurement. As the FCI has become a leviathan incurring huge expenditure on storage and transport of foodgrains, the decentralised procurement will bring down costs and minimise the storage losses, he added. He asked the central government to lift restrictions on storage, processing and movement of agricultural produce and formulate consistent policy of agri exports. He said FDIs should be allowed in agro-processing industries to locate agro-industries in rural areas. The former MP said mechanisation should be encouraged coupled with research and development to suit the local needs. He said that crop loans should be interest-free. Agricu-lture should be introduced as a curriculum at school level and reservations should be provided to rural students in professional colleges, he added.
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