Large number of farmers in Khammam yet to receive money for maize sold in rabi season

Thousands of maize farmers in Khammam district are yet to receive payments for produce procured in April. Farmers' representatives say Rs. 300 crore remains pending and have urged the State government to clear dues immediately ahead of the ongoing kharif agricultural season.

Khammam: Even as the kharif season has started, maize farmers in Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao‘s native district of Khammam are still awaiting payments for the maize procured by the government.

A large number of farmers, who underwent numerous hardships while selling their maize during the procurement undertaken by Telangana Cooperative Marketing Federation Limited (MARKFED) in the district, are yet to be paid for the produce sold in the first week of April.

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According to officials, around 50,000 farmers in the district have grown maize on about 1.81 lakh acres. Chintakani, Bonakal, Konijerla, Mudigonda and Raghunathapalem mandals produced the highest volume of maize.

Telangana Rythu Sangham Khammam district secretary Bonthu Rambabu, speaking to Telangana Today, complained that the State government’s failure to complete the payment process even after the kharif season started showed its negligent attitude towards farmers.

An amount of Rs. 684 crore is due from the government for 2.84 lakh metric tonnes of maize produced in the district, yet only Rs. 384 crore has been released so far. The government must immediately release the pending Rs. 300 crore, he demanded.

Rambabu insisted that the money must be credited into the bank accounts of the farmers rather than being adjusted against old bank loans, as they need money for kharif season agricultural investments. Nearly 20,000 farmers are yet to receive payments for the maize they sold, he said.

He wanted the authorities to ensure that farmers face no financial hardship during the peak agricultural season. It is sad that after waiting for three months to sell their maize produce, farmers are now forced to wait for two months for the sale proceeds, he lamented.

Referring to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s visit to Khammam district on June 30 for the release of the 2026 kharif Rythu Bharosa funds, Rambabu sought to know when the government would release Rythu Bharosa funds for the 2024 and 2025 rabi seasons.