District expects bumper paddy harvest this Kharif season

Kothagudem: Thanks to Rythu Bandhu scheme and other government efforts to help farmers is bearing fruits as the district is expecting a bumper harvest of 2 lakh tonnes of paddy in the Kharif season, informed District Collector Rajat Kumar Saini on Thursday.

Saini addressed an awareness-cum-training session for IKP staff on TS Civil Supplies Corporation paddy procurement centres management in Kothagudem.

As 128 paddy procurement centres will soon be set up across the district under the aegis of different departments for the benefit of farmers. The farmers will have to bring quality produce to the markets and avoid the practice of drying the same in the market yards, he said.

He directed officials to create awareness among the farmers to bring only quality paddy so the market so that they can avail the minimum support price. The farmers will be given tokens only after checking moisture content and purchases have to be made as per the token numbers, he added.

He noted that the paddy procurement will begin in the third week of this month. At every procurement centre, tarpaulin covers have to be made available to cover the produce in case of rains. The farmers who do not have new passbooks can sell the produce with old passbooks and pahanis.

Joint Collector K Venkateshwarlu, DRDA Project Officer Jagatkumar Reddy, the District Cooperative Officer Michael Bose, District Civil Supplies Officer Lakshman, District Rice Millers Association president Jugal Kishore and others were present.