Officials gear up for paddy procurement in RR dist

RANGAREDDY: Amid the brouhaha over the alleged urea shortage in the district, the Rangareddy district administration has decided to procure an adequate amount of paddy through the farmers by opening over 30 procurement centres across the district.

According to officials, an estimated target of 30,000 MT of paddy procurement – 15,000 MT of medium variety and another 15,000 MT of rich variety has been fixed for the monsoon season 2025-26 for which a total number of 33 procurement centres will be opened.

With a view to ensure safe and secure procurement of the grain from the farmers, the additional collector of Rangareddy district convened a meeting of the District Procurement Committee on Wednesday and discussed the modalities for procurement and to ensure reaching the set target.

According to officials from the Agricultural Department, Minimum Support Price of Rs 2,389 per quintal for Grade-A and Rs 2,369 per quintal for common variety has been fixed this time. An additional amount of Rs 500 per quintal for ready- made crop will be paid to the farmers as per the orders of the government.

In order to ease paddy procurement from the farmers in the district, the official said 23 centres have been allotted to PACS, 7 to DCMS and 3 to IKP in the district. Besides, separate grain procurement centres will be open for fine and coarse varieties in the district. As the officials believe that the fresh amount of grain is expected to arrive in the first week of November, all the arrangements are being made to ensure timely procurement of paddy from the farmers in the district.

During the meeting, it has been decided to fix banners on each procurement centre with mobile numbers of quality standard and control room in order to avoid any inconvenience to the farmers. The Additional Collector wanted the marketing officer to make paddy cleaners, moisture metres, weighing scales, grain calipers and tarpaulin adequately available at purchasing centres.