Nearly a week after Andhra Pradesh's aqua feed manufacturers publicly agreed to cut prices by Rs 4 per kilogram, farmers in Krishna district say they are still being billed at the old, higher rate. The gap between what was promised in Amaravati and what is being charged at the local feed counter has left growers frustrated and renewed questions about how the state plans to enforce an agreement that, so far, exists mostly on paper.
The commitment followed a high-level meeting Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu held with aquaculture farmers, feed manufacturers, agriculture minister K. Atchannaidu and senior officials in Amaravati. With production costs squeezing margins for shrimp and fish farmers across the state, Naidu pressed manufacturers to share the burden, and they agreed to lower feed prices from Rs 112 to Rs 108 per kilogram. A joint committee of farmer representatives and manufacturers was also constituted, with instructions to submit a report on long-term price stability within 20 days.
Feed is typically the single largest input cost in aquaculture, often accounting for more than half of a farmer's total expenditure on a crop cycle. For a sector where margins are thin and tied closely to volatile export prices for shrimp, even a small swing in feed cost can decide whether a season is profitable. That arithmetic is what made the Rs 4 cut significant when it was announced, and it is also why its absence at the dealer level now stings.
Growers in the district say the price reduction has not been uniformly passed down through the distribution chain, with little visibility into who is responsible for ensuring compliance once an agreement is reached in Amaravati. Without a monitoring mechanism or a clear deadline tied to the cut itself, farmers are left negotiating informally with local dealers, who in several cases say their own stock was procured before the new rate took effect.
The episode underscores a recurring challenge in agricultural price interventions: a verbal commitment from manufacturers, however well-publicised, does not automatically reset prices in thousands of scattered retail points across the state. With the committee's 20-day reporting window still running, farmers are watching to see whether the panel's recommendations include a concrete enforcement plan, or whether the Rs 4 cut becomes another promise that quietly fades at the point of sale.
