Telangana Govt to procure Redgram along with paddy, cotton this season

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao reiterated that until the last grain from farmers in the procurement centres to be opened in their respective villages, the state government would buy the entire paddy crop. As the COVID-19 pandemic is not fully eradicated, he said, state government agencies will be deployed to the villages to procure the whole crop for the benefit of farmers. He instructed the officials to also make arrangements for the red gram crop procurement.

Continuing its review session on paddy procurement with ministers and officials at Pragathi Bhavan on Wednesday for the second day in a row, the Chief Minister urged farmers not to think about transporting and selling their goods to the markets in the midst of the ongoing crisis. He promised that the State Government will procure the entire crop from the villages, just like the paddy acquired from farmers in their respective villages during the recent Yasangi season. He reiterated that for the A-grade variety and Rs 1,868 per quintal for the B-grade variety, both with less than 17 per cent moisture content, the state government would pay a minimum support price of Rs 1,888 per quintal.

Indicating that paddy harvesting will take place over the next nearly 45 days, Chandrashekhar Rao directed officials from the Departments of Agriculture, Marketing and Civil Supplies to schedule procurement accordingly and ensure that no inconvenience was faced by farmers during the process. He instructed them to come up with reasonable yield estimates and establish an appropriate paddy purchasing plan accordingly.

Chandrashekhar Rao noted that even the fallow land was cultivated due to increased irrigation facilities, resulting in increased agricultural activities. He expressed happiness that the farmers who migrated for livelihood to the cities returned to their native villages and took up agriculture in the wake of the financial assistance from the state government under the RythuBandhu scheme. "In these circumstances, soon after their paddy is sold, we must make fool proof arrangements to pay farmers cash and also arrange for required bank guarantees," he asserted.

In the wake of Telangana being an agrarian state, the Chief Minister stressed the need to improve the Civil Supplies Department and advised them to prepare an action plan in this respect. As suggested by the state government and cultivating redgram in about 10.78 lakh acres in the state, he praised the farmers for taking up supervised farming. He advised the officials to buy Redgram as well.

Ministers S Niranjan Reddy, GangulaKamalakar, Mohd Mahmood Ali, AIndrakaran Reddy, Chairman of Telangana State Civil Supplies Corporation Mareddy Srinivas Reddy, Chairman of Mark Fed Mara Gangareddy, Chief Government Advisor Rajiv Sharma, Principal Secretary of CMO Narsing Rao, Secretary of Agriculture B Janardhan Reddy, Commissioner of Civil Supplies Anil Kumar and others were present.