Maize Prices Crash: Chandrababu Seeks Urgent Central Support for Farmers!

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has written a letter to Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan requesting urgent support for maize farmers in Andhra Pradesh. He urged the Centre to procure maize produced during the 2025-26 Rabi season and to extend financial help through a price difference payment scheme. The Chief Minister highlighted that farmers are under stress due to falling market prices.

Currently, maize prices in the market range between ₹1600 and ₹1700 per quintal, which is far below the minimum support price of ₹2400. The state is expecting a total production of around 42.06 lakh metric tonnes, with another 14.26 lakh metric tonnes still in the harvesting stage. Chandrababu warned that without timely government intervention, farmers may suffer heavy losses.

He also requested that the Centre implement the PM-AASHA scheme to directly compensate farmers for the price gap. He asked the Centre to bear 100% of the financial burden for Andhra Pradesh and extend the scheme until June 2026. The Chief Minister further urged for quick approvals so that agencies can work together and ensure smooth implementation of the scheme.