Maize exporters to meet Pawar to revoke ban on exports

Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, Jul 5 (UNI) Criticising the ban on Maize exports, South India Maize Exporters Association President Vinod Agarwal today said a delegation will soon meet Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and ask him to revoke the ban or else they will be forced to seek recourse to law.

Talking to newspersons here, Mr Agarwal said the sudden ban has hit hard the exporters, farmers and the port workers. Apart from 40,000 MTs of Maize loaded into eight ships in Kakinada anchorage port, as much as two lakh MTs of Maize worth Rs 200 crore was piling up in the godowns awaiting the movement, he added.

''All is done under the pretext of food security. In fact, Maize is not the staple food for us and is mainly used for poultry and cattle feed. If at all any one will benefit by the ban, it is the feed manufacturers. The ban will not better farmers prospects, but only put them into greater turmoil,'' he claimed.

Pointing out that the ban on Maize exports will not make much difference in feed rates, he said the Maize growers will have to depend upon local consumption and sell their produces at rock bottom prices dictated by the feed manufacturers.

Because of the exports, he said, the farmers are getting much higher price ranging from Rs 750 to Rs 1015 per quintal of Maize, as against the MSP of Rs 640 per quintal.

''The overnight decision of the government has come as a bolt from the blue and the exporters also have to suffer heavily in the form of heavy demurrages for the eight ships that have got stranded in Kakinada port, while the loading of Maize was half way and another four ships waiting for berth for loading Maize,'' Gudimella Brahmananda Reddy, another leading exporter of Maize, regretted.

Claiming that sudden imposition of ban on Maize exports is against the clause 1.5 of the Central Government's exim policy, he wanted the government to allow the Maize exports, honouring the LCs effective on date. Or else, the government could purchase the entire stock of two lakh MTs of Maize and pay the farmers, he added.

The ban has also adversely affected the port workers and the lorry workers, as they are deprived of the work, he added.

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