"paddy"

Harish Rao said that the government had failed to make arrangements to purchase paddy, cotton, and maize, forcing farmers to sell their produce to middlemen at a much cheaper rate than the MSP.

On Friday evening, heavy rainfall in Siddipet and Medak districts caused significant damage to paddy farmers. Despite their efforts to dry the paddy along the Narsapur-Medak road in Kowdipally, the crops were washed away by the rainwater, leaving the farmers feeling helpless.

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy made it clear that there would be no paddy allocation for defaulters this season.

The incentive is part of the government’s strategy to reduce dependency on fine rice procurement from other states. However, the current market dynamics pose significant challenges to the implementation of the scheme

Says measures taken by the BRS government in the past had increased agriculture and cotton production in the State

As of September 12, sowing operations have been completed in only 1.23 crore acres, around 95 per cent of the normal cultivation area of 1.29 crore acres for the ongoing Vanakalam season.

The Agriculture department had estimated that farmers would cultivate paddy through the dry seeding method on 1,000 acres this Vanakalam season.

Sufficient urea and other fertilizers was available in all mandals and their distribution should be monitored regularly the District Collectors on a daily basis, she said at a meeting with officials here on Tuesday.

The officials said that the cost of the produce was released and steps would be taken to ensure the farmers get it at the earliest, ending the confusion.

The State government has set a target of 15.19 million acres for Kharif crops this year, expecting a modest increase of eight per cent in the Kharif area.

Though there is huge demand for fine variety rice in the market, farmers are staying away from the crop due to a variety of reasons.

Stating that the people would get more benefits through trees, she advised the public to develop kitchen gardens in their houses and focus on vegetable cultivation.

Farmers started preparing the fields for sowing seeds of various crops mainly staple paddy, cotton, soya bean, red gram, green gran, maize, etc.

On May 21, Special officer S Krishna Aditya while reviewing the progress of the procurement of the grains in Mancherial, set May 30 as the deadline for completing the process in both Mancherial and Kumram Asifabad districts.

Harish Rao said farmers were facing serious difficulties at paddy procurement centres across the State.

Allotment of paddy would be made only to those millers who have completed 100 per cent delivery of CMR dues on producing bank guarantee, he said.

The procurement was hit by untimely rains last year too. But summer showers were experienced this time in long spells and almost throughout May.

It was planned to procure about 1.20 lakh metric tonnes of paddy in Khammam district, district Collector VP Gautham informed.

Harish said since the IMD was predicting rain soon in the State, the government must speed up the procurement.

The driver, who carried the load from Mutaiyakota to Bejjanki, informed him that the paddy that got wet had not been purchased and that they were waiting for this to happen for the last three days.