Telangana: Rains force farmers to act on spot; Paddy procurement crosses 10 lakh MT

Arrivals for the Yasangi marketing season remained steady in Nizamabad and Nalgonda, two of the largest paddy growing districts as the overall procurement crossed the 10 lakh metric tonne mark in the State on Wednesday. Untimely rains which wreaked havoc on the standing crops sparked a sense of uncertainty forcing the farmers to dispose of their produce at the harvesting points.

The traders are reaching out to farmers with holdings ranging from four to five acres for purchasing paddy on the spot. They are the growers, who are not in a position to handle the produce on their own. They are more in favour of disposing it to the traders as it would help avoid the hassles of cleaning, drying, transportation and the cost involved in such operations.

Farmers in the two districts which account for bulk of paddy production, have already disposed a major part of the Grade- A varieties to the traders who have been offering more compared to the minimum support price. Tarpaulins are the need of the hour to protect paddy stock form rains. They are costing Rs 3000 to 3500 each and they proved to be of little use in case of heavy down pour.

In Nizamabad district alone, standing crops in some 1800 acres were left ravaged by heavy rains and hailstorms that followed. Nearly 60 per cent of the paddy stocks with the farmers in Nizamabad and Nalgonda were already purchased either by the corporation at the paddy purchase centres or by the private traders at the harvesting points. Farmers in Kamareddy and Suryapet also had borne the brunt if untimely rains.

As for the paddy exposed to rains, only the Civil Supplies department is able to come to the rescue of the farmers. It has been purchasing paddy soaked in rain to meet the requirement of parboiled rice mills. Officials said that up to four lakh tonnes of such paddy could be purchased in the Yasangi marketing season. The paddy arrivals are yet to pick up in districts of Asifabad, Bhupalapally and Mulugu.

In Wanaparthy and Mahabubnagar, which are known for late transplantation, the arrivals started picking up. The MSP operations are in progress at 7,111 paddy purchase centres. The Civil Supplies Commissioner, D S Chouhan visited the districts of Jangaon and Bhongir as part of his stock-taking mission on Wednesday.

Whether it was because of the impact of the drought conditions that prevailed during the last phase of Yasangi and untimely rains that battered the crops during the pre-harvest time, there could be substantial short fall in realisation of targets compared to last year. Next 30 days would be crucial for the MSP operations.

This article has been republished from The Telangana Today.