HYDERABAD: Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Tuesday urged Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi to raise Telangana’s Rabi 2025–26 rice procurement target from 35 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) to 54.5 LMT, equivalent to the 80.09 LMT of paddy already procured by the state.
Uttam, along with Agriculture Minister Thummala Nageswara Rao, met the Union minister in New Delhi and explained that Rabi procurement had already touched 80.09 LMT and was expected to increase further as arrivals continued from late-harvesting districts.
The ministers said combined procurement during Kharif and Rabi cycles of 2025–26 had reached a record 152 LMT, the highest ever in Telangana and the undivided AP.
They informed the Union minister that while Telangana had projected around 90 LMT of paddy procurement during the Rabi season, the Centre fixed the rice procurement target at only 35 LMT, equivalent to 51.47 LMT of paddy. As a result, the state procured nearly 29 LMT more paddy than the approved target.
The ministers also sought a 60-day extension for pending Rabi 2024–25 Custom Milled Rice (CMR) deliveries and a 120-day extension for Kharif 2025–26 deliveries, citing storage constraints, overlapping procurement seasons and heavy arrivals.
They requested that future procurement targets, particularly for Kharif 2026–27, be aligned with production and procurement estimates submitted by the state.
According to figures presented to the Union minister, Telangana procured 69.50 LMT of paddy beyond Central targets during the last three major procurement seasons, resulting in an additional MSP-related burden of nearly Rs 16,446 crore.
Of this, surplus procurement during Rabi 2025–26 alone accounted for an estimated liability of Rs 6,837 crore, while similar burdens of Rs 5,278 crore and Rs 4,331 crore were incurred during Rabi 2024–25 and Kharif 2025–26, respectively.
