A large number of farmers from Saurashtra today gathered under the banner of RSS-affiliated Bhartiya Kisan Sangh to demand higher minimum support prices for cotton and groundnut.
They demanded increase in MSP for cotton from Rs 810 per 20 kg to Rs 1,000 and for groundnut from Rs 900 per 20 kg to Rs 1,100 per 20 kg.
Rajkot wing of BKS, led by its president Suresh Kansagara, had organised the rally. Afterwards, a memorandum was submitted to the district collector Nita Chandra, which said that farmers were facing a tough season and the existing MSP was very low.
The production cost of cotton is around Rs 1,000 per 20 kg, it claimed.
BKS also demanded that government should make the export of cotton and groundnut duty-free.
"The government should impose 40 per cent duty on import of oil and oilseeds and de-control the export of groundnut," the memorandum said.
