Paddy farmers at mercy of millers; Record harvest brings record hardships

Despite a bumper Rabi paddy harvest, Telangana farmers are facing severe distress due to procurement delays, arbitrary weight deductions and rejection of stocks by rice mills. Farmers in districts including Nalgonda and Mahabubnagar have been forced to wait days with loaded vehicles, while millers cite excess moisture and poor threshing to impose heavy cuts.

Hyderabad: A bumper Rabi paddy harvest that should have brought cheer to Telangana farmers has instead plunged thousands into distress as prolonged delays at rice mills, hostile rejection of produce over alleged quality issues and massive arbitrary weight deductions eat into their hard-earned income.

Across districts such as Nalgonda, Sircilla, Nizamabad and Mahabubnagar, farmers are being forced to wait four to seven days with loaded vehicles outside mills and market yards.

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In a glaring incident from Seshammagudem village of Nalgonda mandal, two farmers, Nagamma and Bojja Srinu, transported 352 and 356 bags of paddy respectively to a rice mill in Tipparthy mandal.

The miller demanded a staggering deduction of 25 quintals from the total weight citing quality issues. After being made to wait in the mill yard for over a week and failing to resolve the dispute despite repeated pleas, the farmers were finally forced to accept a heavily compromised price.

Meanwhile, in Devarakadra and Badepally market yards of Mahabubnagar district, daily arrivals have surged past 16,000 quintals and 8,000 quintals respectively. While fine varieties are fetching prices above MSP, farmers with coarse varieties remain entirely at the mercy of millers and traders who dictate terms amid the procurement chaos.

Civil supplies officials claim action is being taken against errant millers, but farmers say interventions are sporadic and fail to address systemic flaws in testing, transportation and timely lifting of stocks.

Congestion, inadequate testing facilities, and the threat of unseasonal rains have compounded the crisis. Millers are increasingly citing excess moisture (above the permitted 17%) and poor threshing as reasons to either refuse loads outright or impose punitive deductions of 2–5 kg per quintal, effectively slashing farmers’ earnings by hundreds of rupees per load.

Procurement volumes this season have come down compared to previous years despite no drop in cultivated area in districts such as Mahabubabad.

Farmer organisations allege a nexus between some millers and private traders who benefit when desperate cultivators offload stocks below Minimum Support Price (MSP). Protests, highway blockades, and even instances of farmers setting harvested paddy on fire in frustration have become commonplace.