HYDERABAD: The State government has decided to procure fully the paddy and cotton produced by farmers in the Kharif season. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao during a meeting at Pragathi Bhavan on Tuesday announced that the government would purchase the paddy and cotton cultivated in Vanakalam. Rao instructed the officials to open 6,000 purchasing centres and ensure that every grain of paddy was purchased.
He said that the government’s aim was to stand by the farmers, right from extending financial assistance to take up cultivation to purchasing the produce once harvested. Rao said that crops were cultivated in a record 134.87 lakh acres in Kharif season. Of this, paddy was cultivated in 52.77 lakh acres, cotton in 60.36 lakh acres, and red gram in 10.78 lakh acres. He said paddy would be procured completely through Indira Kranthi Patham (IKP) centres, Cooperative Societies, and Marketing Department. Rao called upon the farmers not to go in for any distress sale. He said if the paddy was found having below 17 per cent moisture, the government would give Rs 1,888 per quintal as the minimum support price (MSP) for A grade variety and `1,868 per quintal for the B grade variety. Rao urged the farmers to bring in dried paddy to get the MSP and not to bring paddy which was not dried properly. He said guidelines regarding the purchase of paddy would be released in a day or two and Agriculture, Marketing, and Civil Supplies Department would work in coordination for procurement of paddy.
The Chief Minister said that efforts were on to procure cotton through Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) and discussions were going on with the CCI in this regard. Rao asked officials to clear any doubts the farmers might have when they come to the procurement centres. Agriculture Minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy, Civil Supplies Minister Gangula Kamalakar and others were present in the meeting.