Shimla: Terming a hike of 50 paise per kg in support price for apple this season as a cruel joke on farmers, the score of farmer bodies demanded that the government, if really wanted to help the farmers, should hike the support price to minimal Rs 12 per kg under the market intervention scheme (MIS).

Shimla: Terming a hike of 50 paise per kg in support price for apple this season as a cruel joke on farmers, the score of farmer bodies demanded that the government, if really wanted to help the farmers, should hike the support price to minimal Rs 12 per kg under the market intervention scheme (MIS).

Not only this, the farmers warned the government not to sell the fruit procured under MIS from the farmers in the markets as it led to crash in the fruit markets that, in turn, cut down on their profit margins and helped only commission agents and traders.

They also demanded a good network of procurement centres in the apple belt, adding that the fruit should not be procured in 40 kg ‘kattas’ since the procurement was done per kg not on the basis of katta or bag.

Dr Kuldip Tanwar, president, Himachal Kisan Sabha, and its secretary Rakesh Singha said the support price had added insult to injury of the farmers as the state Cabinet okayed a hike of 50 paise yesterday. If the criterion of cost of production per kg was calculated and farmers had to earn some profit, then the minimum cost should be Rs 12 per kg, they asserted.