HYDERABAD: In what could bring cheer for farmers, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said the government would procure paddy this summer through 6,408 centres in villages across the state. He said due to a surge in Covid-19 cases, the government had decided to procure paddy in the villages as it was done last year.
At a review meeting at Pragathi Bhavan on Monday, the CM instructed principal secretary (finance) K Ramakrishna Rao to make arrangements to give Rs 20,000 crore bank guarantee by Tuesday evening. He also asked chief secretary Somesh Kumar to hold a video-conference with all collectors immediately for setting up of the procurement centres.
The CM said in 6,408 procurement centres, there are 2,131 IKP centres, 3,964 PACS centres and others 313. To ensure that they get minimum support price (MSP) at these centres, the CM told the farmers to see that the paddy they are bringing should have not more than 17 per cent moisture. He said for procuring the paddy, the officials should keep 20 crore gunny bags ready at the procurement centres.
KCR said cotton produced in Telangana has a better price in the international market. “Since cotton produced in the state has better quality and commands a higher price as well as higher yield, farmers should be ready to grow cotton in 75 lakh to 80 lakh acres. Similarly, arrangements should also be made to cultivate red gram in 20 lakh to 25 lakh acres,” the CM said.
In this summer season, paddy is cultivated in 52.76 lakh acres. He instructed the CS to identify land to be given on lease to the Central Warehousing Corporation as it is ready to construct additional godowns to store foodgrains.
The CM also asked water resources department officials to ensure that Kaleshwaram water is supplied to the land under the irrigation projects for another 10 days so that crops would not go dry in Suryapet district.