3 lakh metric tonnes of paddy procured, Rs 288 cr paid to farmers in Nalgonda

NALGONDA:  Despite several hurdles, owing to the pandemic situation, the Nalgonda district administration has, so far, managed to purchase about three lakh metric tonnes of paddy for a total of Rs 288 crore. In light of this, the district authorities are hoping that the farmers would grow at least 10 lakh metric tonnes of paddy this season.

When Express spoke to a few district officials, they said that the farmers took up cultivation over several more acres as all major reservoirs in the district, including Nagarjunasagar and Musi, are brimming with water. At the same time, the authorities managing to carry out procurement process without much delay has also encouraged the ryots to grow more paddy.

“While the government-authorised procurement centres purchased around three-and-a-half lakh metric tonnes of paddy, rice millers too purchased around three-and-a-half lakh metric tonnes of the crop. Now, around 20,000 metric tonnes to 30,000 metric tonnes of paddy are arriving at various purchasing centres in the district daily,” officials said.

Additional Collector V Chandrasekhar told Express that the district administration has managed to deposit a total of `288 crore into the bank accounts of farmers and added that the remaining `12 crore, in total, will also reach the accounts of ryots in two days.