Andhra govt gears up to safeguard farmers from middlemen during crop sale

Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh) [India], October 24 : The Andhra Pradesh government has come up with a new mechanism to prevent farmers from falling victim to middlemen in the process of selling their agricultural produce.
Under this new mechanism, farmers can register their crops in advance and sell it at the Procurement Centres, after which the support price announced by the government will be credited directly to the farmer's account.
So far, 75,805 farmers have registered their crops in the Comprehensive Monitoring of Agriculture, Price, and Procurement (CMAPP) app for this Kharif season.
Out of these, 54,556 farmers have registered for maize procurement, 14,309 for bajra, 4,789 for ragi, 826 for korra, 1,289 for cotton, and 36 for onion.
The registration date was extended till October 26 due to the recent heavy rains and flood which severely affected crops.
A senior official from the agriculture marketing department said that in order to enable farmers to sell their produce at the village level, the agricultural marketing department was taking measures to set up more procurement centres across the state.
"For the first time in Andhra Pradesh, 8,256 procurement centers have been set up in linkage with Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBKs) across the state for the procurement of crops for the current Kharif season. Farmers have to register their details at RBKs before selling their produce to the government procurement centres,"
"The details of the registered farmers reach the procurement centres online database, after which farmers get information directly on their registered mobile number. The payment will be credited directly to the farmer's account within 10 days of procurement," the official added.