Govt. plans to complete paddy procurement over next 10 days: Uttam Kumar Reddy

HYDERABAD

Minister for Civil Supplies and Irrigation N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has cautioned rice millers and others involved in the procurement of paddy this season against deduction in weight of the produce brought by farmers in the name of chaff and other wastage as the government is against any move that would cause loss to farmers.

At a meeting held here on Sunday to review the ongoing exercise of paddy procurement with the officials of the Civil Supplies department and with the District Collectors (through video-conference), the Minister said the government had revised the procurement quantity to 75 lakh tonnes against 90 lakh tonnes planned earlier based on the arrivals of paddy at procurement centres.

He noted that the production of paddy was estimated to be 1.41 crore tonnes this Rabi season against over 1.5 crore tonnes estimated earlier. He stated that the government had already procured 51 lakh tonnes from farmers against the Centre’s procurement target of 52 lakh tonnes.

Stating that the government had paid ₹8,750 crore to farmers against the paddy procured so far, the Minister said the procurement would be intensified further over the next 10 days period to ensure that every grain arriving at the procurement centres/market yards was purchased without delay. He instructed District Collectors and civil supplies officials to complete the procurement operations in the next 10 days.

He explained that the special drive was launched in the backdrop of unprecedented agricultural output, mounting arrivals at procurement centres, severe labour shortages, heatwave conditions and unseasonal rains threatening standing stocks in market yards. He said total arrivals at the procurement centres were expected to touch 75 lakh tonnes (LT) and assured farmers of procuring the entire 75 LT despite operational and financial pressures.

The Minister said the production of 140.81 LT of paddy this Rabi season was possible from a record 65.91 lakh acres coverage of the crop. Assuring that every grain brought to the procurement centres would be purchased, including the rain-soaked paddy, so that no farmer suffered any losses because of adverse weather conditions.

Asking the authorities to complete procurement of 8.78 LT paddy that had already arrived in 72 hours, the Minister said as of May 23 about 58.79 LT of paddy had arrived at procurement centres and 50.01 LT of it had already been procured or 85% of the total arrivals. He stated that another 16 LT was expected from late-harvest districts within the next 10 days. The Civil Supplies department was working in a mission mode with a daily procurement target of 3 LT.

Stating that an additional 7 LT storage capacity was hired of late to support the procurement operation, the Minister said night-shift procurement operations and inter-district transport coordination were introduced to speed up lifting and unloading at mills.

He explained that many migrant hamalis and rice mill workers from West Bengal and Bihar had left for their home States during the recent assembly elections and had not returned on time, resulting in labour shortage significantly slowing down procurement and transport operations.