The Communist Party of India's State executive member P. Kameswara Rao has urged the state government to provide a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for paddy. He said farmers in Vizianagaram and nearby areas are forced to sell their crops at very low prices because there are no procurement centres. On Wednesday, CPI district secretary Ommi Ramana and other party leaders held a protest at the Vizianagaram Collector’s office. They brought forward the farmers' problems and demanded government action. Kameswara Rao told the media that the government is not doing enough to buy 50 lakh metric tonnes of paddy despite promising this repeatedly. He also mentioned that the government has not supplied enough paddy bags or set up enough procurement centres. Due to the lack of procurement centres, farmers are selling 75 kg paddy bags to millers for ₹1,200 instead of the actual price of ₹1,700, Kameswara Rao said.