21.73L tonnes paddy worth ₹5,040 crore procured so far this season: Minister

Uttam Kumar Reddy says procurement centres opened, quantity procured, payments made by November 24 higher this year compared to last year

HYDERABAD

Minister for Civil Supplies and Irrigation N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has stated that the Civil Supplies Corporation has procured 21.73 lakh tonnes of paddy produced in the Kharif season so far. The value of procured grain is ₹5,040 crore, including ₹283.25 crore bonus paid to fine varieties.

Speaking after reviewing the paddy procurement in a teleconference from his constituency headquarters, Huzurnagar, on Sunday he stated that of the 8,191 procurement centres proposed for paddy purchase 7,990 were opened so far and the authorities had inspected 5,240 centres. Asking the farmers not to go for distress sale as the procurement operations would continue till January 10, the Minister said the money was being credited to farmers’ bank accounts three days after purchase of their produce.

Of the 21.73 lakh tonnes of paddy procured so far from 3,50,311 farmers, 16.06 lakh tonnes were common varieties (2,71,655 farmers) and 5.67 lakh tonnes of fine varieties (78,686 farmers). Of the ₹283.25 crore bonus calculated for the fine varieties procured so far, ₹8.17 crore was already paid to farmers. A total of ₹2,760.22 crore amount was paid to farmers till date out of ₹5,040 crore worth grain procured so far.

The Minister stated that against the opening of 7,990 procurement centres so far this season, only 5,543 were opened last year by the same time. The paddy procured during the corresponding period last year was 20.6 lakh tonnes against 21.73 lakh tonnes purchased this year.

Similarly, the payments made to farmers by November 24 last year was ₹2,414.23 crore and this year it was ₹2,760.22 crore. Production of paddy was estimated to be around 153 lakh tonnes this Kharif season with 40 lakh farmers raising paddy in an extent of 66.07 lakh acres.

Published - November 24, 2024 07:44 pm IST