Paddy farmers facing hardships due to procurement issues: Kishan Reddy

Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy on Saturday alleged that the Telangana government has repeatedly failed to manage paddy procurement, causing hardship to farmers. He claimed such issues were not being reported in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh or several other States.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP State office, he claimed that although the State government had announced 8,775 procurement centres, only 7,180 were functioning on the ground.

He accused the government of failing to ensure adequate supply of gunny bags, transportation and storage facilities, forcing farmers to wait weeks for approvals to sell their produce. Due to delays in procurement and logistical arrangements, farmers were reportedly forced to remain in market yards for 20 to 40 days.

Mr. Reddy said the situation had led to distress sales, with traders purchasing paddy at prices as low as ₹1,700 per quintal, below the minimum support price. He also alleged that fine-quality rice procured in Telangana was being diverted to other States, while lower-quality rice was being brought back for distribution through the public distribution system (PDS).

The Union Minister attributed the situation to lack of planning and inefficiency, stating that farmers were suffering crop losses due to untimely rains during harvest. He alleged that Ministers had failed to visit procurement centres and address farmers’ issues until BJP legislators launched the ‘Rythula Gosa -BJP Bharosa’ campaign.

Referring to procurement targets, he said Telangana and the Centre had agreed for supply of 52.24 lakh metric tonnes of rice to the Food Corporation of India (FCI), equivalent to procurement of nearly 53 lakh metric tonnes of paddy. He questioned why the State government had failed to complete procurement despite this arrangement.

Mr. Reddy also sought an explanation on the non-payment of the promised bonus to Rabi farmers who grew fine rice varieties (Sanna vadlu). He said the Congress had initially promised bonuses for ten crops during elections, later restricted it to one crop, then to fine paddy, and now even Rabi farmers were reportedly not receiving the benefit.