Indian Farmers Federation leader Prof C Narasimhappa demanded the government consider maize as a nutritious food grain and fix a support price of Rs 600 for the farm produce.

Addressing a press conference here, he said that the price of maize was on the decline and it could nose-dive further as the yield was likely to be impressive during the current season. Against this backdrop, the government should buy at least 3 lakh tonnes of the produce.

The government which had purchased only 67,000 tonnes of maize last year, promised to enter the market during the current season and the assurance would be materialised only if it bought at 30 per cent of 10 lakh tonnes of maize likely to produced in the district this year, he said.

Observing that sugar cane growers were adversely affected as the production of sugar outweighed the demand at both domestic and international levels, he said that the government should encourage production of ethanol, which would help fuel supply.

Union Agriculture Minister would do better resigning from his post if could not respond to the needs of farmers, Prof  Narasimhappa said.