Wanaparthy: Red gram procurement to be enhanced from 46,000 MT to 50,000 MT

Wanaparthy: Stressing that the yield of red gram has increased manifold due to better irrigation facilities, Agriculture Minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy said that there was a need for increasing capacity of procurement by the government. This time, based on the demand of the red gram farmers in the State, the Department of Agriculture has written to the Central government to increase the red gram procurement limit of Telangana State from 46,000 metric tonnes to 50,000 metric tonnes.

"This time thanks to the irrigation facilities in Telangana, there has been a bumper yield. Be it paddy, groundnut or red gram, the farmers are working hard and producing very good yields. To encourage them further, the State government is also giving good MSP and procuring the crops. However, the recent Central government's directive to Markfed authorities to limit the procurement of red gram has been decried by the farmers and based on their demand, we requested the Central government to increase the procurement capacity from 46,000 MTs to 50,000 MTs in Telangana," said the Agriculture Minister.

Launching the red gram procurement centre in Wanaparthy district on Wednesday, the Minister said that this time groundnut produced in Wanaparthy gained the best price of Rs 5,800 per quintal. Similarly, the production of red gram has also been very good and the government is providing the best price. However, as the central government has put a limit of procurement on red gram, this has caused some problem with the farmers. Therefore, we have urged the government to increase the limit of procurement for red gram in the State.

The Minister also urged the farmers to cooperate with the Markfed officials and said that the farmers must not resort to any illegal means and should not allow the red gram farmers of other States to sell their produce at the procurement centres as this will cause problems, and both the government and the local farmers will be at the loss. So the farmers and the officials must be alert and take up the red gram procurement in a smooth manner without causing any problems, the Minister said.