"paddy-procurement"

The district has been witnessing continuous rains for the last four days, leaving the farmers worried. The farmers were waiting for nearly one month for their produce to be procured at several places.

In Karimnagar, about 2.27 lakh metric tons of paddy has been procured from 37,500 farmers through 321 purchasing centres. So far, Rs.414 crore has been deposited in bank accounts of 27,367 farmers.

In a video conference with District Collectors here on Friday, she wanted them to explore ways for faster movement of paddy from procurement centre to mills.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Maheshwar Reddy blamed the State government for the paddy getting wet in the rain and causing loss to the farmers.

They found fault with the officials for not starting the procurement process even after one month.

Rauthu Sattaiah, a farmer, alleged that the staffers at the centre were secretly stealing around three kilograms of grains per bag by tampering with the weighing machine.

As part of the special initiative, Civil Supplies Commissioner D S Chowhan said the corporation has taken up simultaneous weighing and stacking of the stocks.

The farmers said they would stay away from the Lok Sabha elections if the government failed to procure the paddy by Sunday evening.

As for the paddy exposed to rains, only the Civil Supplies department is able to come to the rescue of the farmers. It has been purchasing paddy soaked in rain to meet the requirement of parboiled rice mills.

The farmers complained to former Minister T Harish Rao who visited a procurement centre at Pedda Koduru village on Sunday to know their issues.

The State government could complete procurement of 3.3 lakh metric tonnes during the last three weeks as against less than one lakh tonnes procured by this time last year, he said.

Reviewing the paddy procurement process in the state in the wake of farmers staging protests at Jangaon, he directed officials to cancel the licenses of the millers and traders indulging in unfair practices in purchasing paddy.

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

The State had a bumper Rabi harvest last year and procurement of paddy was done till the last grain in 2022-23.

Due to the recent Assembly elections, the paddy procurement is learnt to have slowed down slightly with millers capitalising on the situation and securing most of the crop directly from farmers

District Collector Ch Shivalingaiah has directed officials overseeing paddy procurement to accelerate the process.

Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy said the total loans of the Civil Supplies Corporation had reached Rs 52,067.3 crore

To avoid heavy losses, farmers are selling the crop to middlemen and rice millers at lower prices

Purchase centres have been set up in accordance with the election rules like every year so that the farmers do not face any difficulties, said Khammam Collector

It has been announced that the grain purchase centres will commence their operations in Jangaon within the next one to two days, further assuring that the procurement process remains efficient and hassle-free for local farmers