Paddy procurement: Realisation of targets unlikely in Telangana

Despite meticulous preparations ahead of the Rabi marketing season for paddy procurement, achieving the set targets seems improbable.

Hyderabad: Even as the procurement of paddy for the Rabi marketing season commenced with elaborate arrangements made in advance, the realisation of targets appear to be unlikely. The arrivals continued to be poor at a majority of the paddy purchase centres. It may not cross 50 lakh metric tonnes in the season, though the official machinery has been tasked with an ambitious target of 75.40 lakh metric tonnes. The situation owed largely to twin factors.

The growers of the grade A varieties moving paddy to the purchase centres are not many. They are turning to the private traders who have been offering much higher prices compared to the minimum support price. According to reports reaching from districts, at places such as Nelakondapalli and Madhira, grade -A varieties were offered at Rs 2,700 to Rs 2,800 per quintal.

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The bulk of the stocks with the farmers had already been purchased by the traders and millers.

Paddy production is likely register a substantial drop because of the drought conditions in the command of a majority of the irrigation projects. The farmers who sunk new bore wells to raise paddy in different districts under the Nagarjuna Sagar project, despite an officially declared crop holiday, suffered huge losses, with a big drop in the ground water table too. Under other projects such as Sriramsagar and Nizamsagar, irrigation support could not be extended because of the poor storage levels in the projects.

The overall Rabi projects for paddy output would be 14 to 15 lakh tonnes less compared to the 1.20 crore metric tonnes achieved during Rabi-2023. Many Rabi farmers have abandoned their crops failing to ensure last single wetting that would have helped bail out in a big way. Officials are also of the view that many of the paddy purchase centres being opened in the state may draw a blank. Though the state government had decided to open 7,149 purchase centers, the requirement could be far less.