State to set up 7,139 centres for vanakalam paddy procurement

Centres to be operated through Primary Agricultural Cooperatives (4,496), Indira Kranti Patham centres (2,102), and other agencies (541), to streamline the process for farmers during the harvest season.

Hyderabad: The State government will establish 7,139 paddy purchase centres across the State to facilitate the procurement of the 2024-25 Vanakalam crop. These centres will be operated through Primary Agricultural Cooperatives (4,496), Indira Kranti Patham centres (2,102), and other agencies (541), with an aim to streamline the process for farmers during the harvest season.

During a review meeting on the 2024-25 action plan with joint collectors and civil supplies officials at Marri Chenna Reddy Human Resource Development Institute on Tuesday, Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy revealed that paddy was cultivated on 60.39 lakh acres during the Vanakalam season, with an estimated yield of 91.38 lakh tonnes. Of this, fine variety of paddy was grown on 36.08 lakh acres with an estimated yield of 88.09 lakh tonnes, while coarse variety of paddy was expected to yield 58.18 lakh tonnes from 23.58 lakh acres.

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The Minister announced that farmers would receive Rs.500 bonus per quintal from the ensuing harvesting season to support agricultural sustainability. The procurement of paddy is set to begin in the first week of October and will continue until January. The officials were instructed to stay vigilant and initiate strict measures to prevent irregularities in paddy procurement process and also curb illegal paddy transportation from bordering States. The State government arranged godowns to store 40 lakh tonnes of paddy.

Supply of fine rice variety through fair price shops will commence from January, where each beneficiary will receive 6 kg rice, the Minister said.