Paddy procurement crosses one crore mark
In these unprecedented times, Telangana comes bearing good news for the agricultural sector. The state announced that paddy procurement in the State has crossed 1 crore metric tonnes (MT) mark. Paddy procurement in Vaanakalam (monsoon crop) and Yasangi (winter crop) seasons accounted for 47 lakh MT and 65 lakh MT amounting to a total of 1.12 crore MT.
The announcement was made by Telangana State Civil Supplies Corporation Chairman Mareddy Srinivas Reddy who added that six years into the formation of the State, Telangana has witnessed 367 percent increase in paddy procurement.
He attributed this success to the vision of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who rolled out farmer welfare schemes such as Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Beema and round-the-clock free power supply for the agricultural sector. He also launched new irrigation projects and minimum support price, MSP.
A bar chart provided by the department illustrates that the government had procured 24.25 lakh MT during 2014-15 which doubled to 2016-17 with 53.69 lakh MT. Again in 2018-19, the procurement increased to 77.41 lakh MT. Despite COVID-19 crisis, the State has achieved a new record by procuring 1.12 crore MT, he added. The current Yasangi season has seen an increase of 76 per cent against the previous Yasangi season and 6,408 procurement centres were set up across the State to facilitate the record high yield.
