Telangana Agriculture Minister Thummala Nageswara Rao today directed seed companies to settle their pending payments to cotton farmers in Jogulamba, Gadwal district, within a month.
During a review meeting at the Secretariat, the minister said that the companies involved in the cotton cultivation spanning around 50,000 acres collectively owed the farmers approximately Rs 700 crore, and that despite several months having passed the companies in the district had not fulfilled their financial obligations to the farmers.
He said that the farmers in Gadwal were national leaders in cotton seed production and a source of pride for the country, and expressed disappointment over the companies' failure to pay them for the seeds they produced and supplied. He said that the government's foremost priority was the welfare of farmers, and that any hardships they faced would not be tolerated.
Both the farmers and the agricultural workers dependent on them were facing financial distress, Rao claimed, and insisted that the pending payments be cleared without delay.