Farmers urged to sell at purchase centres

Kamareddy: Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives Pocharam Srinivas Reddy on Monday urged farmers to sell their fine rice at Rs.1,800 per tonne as the support price.

He revealed that 1.2 lakh metric tonnes of rice produced in only Telangana would be purchased for meeting the needs of the mid-day meals and for supplying in the hostels .

Speaking at a review meeting of the Civil Supplies department at the Collectorate in the town on Monday, he cautioned the farmers not to make the mistake of selling their fine rice at a lesser price.

“You should sell only at the government designated purchase centres,” he added. The Agriculture Minister said that in the past, rice from other States was supplied.

Now BPT 5204, Sona Masuri, Sama Masuri varieties would be procured from the State itself for the benefit of rice millers and farmers, as per the agreement between the Civil Supplies department, the Rice Mill Owners’ Association on November 22.

The Government would take into consideration the interests of the farmers, he added. Civil Supplies Corporation Chairman Peddi Sudarshan Reddy, MLAs Gampa Govardhan, Hanmanth Shinde, ZP Chairman Dafedar Raju and District Collector N Satyanarayana were among those present at the meeting.