16Lakh MT paddy expected this season: Collector K V N Chakradhar Babu

Nellore: District Collector K V N Chakradhar Babu said he was anticipating 16 lakh MTs of paddy this season in the district. Interacting with media here on Thursday, he said the farmers have cultivated NLR34449 and BPT5204 varieties across the district.

Till now, he said, the administration has procured 1,34,790 lakh metric tonnes of paddy from the farmers and paid Rs 200 crore to them. He informed that Village Assistants, Village Agriculture and Village Revenue Officers formed teams and have been collecting details from November last for booking under E-Crop.

The entire information was available at all RBKs due to crop booking, he said and added the yield was good this year due to heavy rains and they had provided 236 harvesters to the farmers in the district and other equipment through Custom Hiring Centres. He said the administration started paddy procurement through 230 RBKs this season considering FAQ specifications of moisture and other content in the paddy.

The Collector said crop was first available in the district at Sullurpet, Naidupet and then at Kavali, Kovur and Sarvepalli. They are starting paddy procurement centres depending on harvesting in the areas, he explained. Paddy varieties RNR 15048, NLR34449 and NLR3354 were slim in nature and have good demand in the market.

He said a major portion of paddy procured from the farmers was NLR34449 which comes to around 80,500 MTs. Chakradhar Babu said a control room has been set up at the collectorate monitored by the Joint Collector and District Manager of Civil Supplies Corporation.

He said the ratio of bank guarantee was 1:2 where they can collect double quantity of paddy. He said rice is being exported to Sri Lanka and other countries through Krishnapatnam Port. He informed that they start payments to farmers within 21 days of collection of stocks.