Sale of millets in Uzhavar Santhais soon, announces Tiruchy Collector

TIRUCHY: In consultation with the officials, adequate space for selling millets in Uzhavar Santhais will be arranged, said Tiruchy Collector here on Friday after the farmers appealed to the Collector for the promotion of millet cultivation in the district.

The farmers’ grievances redressal meet was held in Tiruchy chaired by Tiruchy Collector M Pradeep Kumar in which the Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Kisan Sangam spokesperson N Veerasekaran pointed out that the Union Budget announced the promotion of millet cultivation to ensure the state participation in Shree Anna scheme.

“The millets are cultivated in a few particular areas in the district and it is necessary to provide a space in the Uzhavar Sandhai to attract the local markets so that the cultivation area could be increased based on the demand,” he said.

The Collector, who inquired with the officials of Agriculture Marketing Department instantly and sought whether that was possible and the officials said that there is a possibility to provide a platform in the Uzhavar Santhai. Subsequently, the Collector said that the feasibility would be studied and soon, a space would be provided which would encourage the farmers cultivating millets.

Similarly, P Viswanathan, state president of Tank and River Ayacutdars Welfare Association, urged the Collector to support the farmers to cultivate millets like, maize, ragi, kambu, finger millet, corn and other crops like green gram, black gram and Bengal gram, which has a potential in the market and profitable cultivation.

He also demanded to provide Rs 3,000 per quintal of maize and Rs 10,000 per quintal for cotton.

Earlier, the farmers led by Viswanathan spilled maize and cotton claiming that the farmers were not provided proper profitable pricing for the produce.

Meanwhile, in Thanjavur, the farmers demanded to commence the desilt works in the month of March itself. They claimed that the desilt works are usually undertaken in haste close to the release of water from Mettur dam, which resulted in improper desilt work that leads to failure of water in the tail end areas.