Paddy procurement centres at the doorsteps of farmers: Minister S Niranjan Reddy

Hyderabad: State government has decided to take the paddy procurement centres (PCCs) to the doorsteps of the farmers in the villages.

Addressing media here on Monday, State Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy said the new measure is taken against the COVID lockdown regulations and to prevent farmers coming to the PCC located in the urban centres.

Earlier, the minister held a review meeting jointly by State Chief Secretary Some Kumar attended by the senior officials of agriculture, marketing, horticulture and other departments.

He said steps have been taken to arrange green channel for milk, vegetable, groceries and other supplies coming from other states to the city and supplies would not face any hurdles at the toll plazas.

Further, a task force has been constituted to take stringent action against those selling essential commodities at higher prices.

Regarding paddy procurement, he stressed on taking necessary steps not to cause any inconvenience to the farmers, senior officials are asked not to limit the number of PCC centres.

For the procurement of paddy, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao has asked the finance department to extend a bank guarantee for Rs 25,000 crore, he added.

Similarly, maize cultivated in Rabi will be procured with a minimum support price of Rs 1,760 per quintal. The procurement of maize will be done through Markfed to ensure farmers are not at loss following the poultry industry facing troubles in the wake of COVID scare, he said.

Similarly, the officials were asked to prevent gathering more number of farmers at the PCCs. For this, the officials were asked to prepare an action plan to assess the village-wise procurement of paddy by issuing tokens.

Further, they were also asked to procure 60,000 tarpaulins, ganni bags and moisture meters at the PCCs by April 15, to avoid any inconvenience to the farmers.

The agriculture minister asked the farmers to utilise the services of the farmers' primary cooperative societies sand IKP procurement centres.

The minister clarified that since seeds and fertilizers are within the essential commodities act there would not be any problem for their transportation and distribution.