Unseasonal showers that lashed various parts of the district in the last 48 hours exacerbated farmers’ concerns over timely disposal of their paddy produce with cloudy sky conditions still persisting in several parts of the district.
Incidents of harvested paddy getting soaked in the unexpected drizzle were reported from Boppapur, Gollapally, Padira and several other villages in Yellareddypet mandal and various other parts of the district in the past two days, sources said.
The cloudy sky conditions prompted the farmers to cover their harvested paddy with tarpaulin sheets at the paddy procurement centres and on the roadside in several parts of the district.
The farmers’ organisations were demanding speeding up of the pace of paddy procurement and supply of adequate tarpaulin sheets to prevent damage to the harvested paddy
Official sources said more than 6000 tarpaulin sheets were made available at nearly 265 procurement centres as part of contingency measures to deal with unseasonal rains.
Sources said about 52,000 metric tonnes of paddy produced in the kharif season was already procured from the farmers through the designated procurement centres across the district so far in the current procurement season.