251 paddy collection centres to be set up

Nagar Kurnool: District Collector Badavath Santosh instructed officials to ensure that paddy procurement for the Kharif 2024-25 season proceeds smoothly, with proper planning to avoid any inconvenience to farmers. On Wednesday, he held a meeting here with Additional Collector K Sitarama Rao, officials from various departments, Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS) CEOs, rice millers, and IKP representatives.

The agriculture department estimates that 2.18 lakh metric tonnes of paddy would be harvested this season, and 251 paddy procurement centers need to be set up. The government will pay Rs 2,320 per quintal for Grade-A paddy, Rs 2,300 for regular varieties, and an additional Rs 500 bonus for fine varieties.

The Collector Santosh payments should be credited to farmers’ accounts within 48 hours. The rice mills tagged to each centre must receive the paddy without any delay. He further directed that all centers be equipped with weighing machines and tabs for online entry of details. He also ordered the immediate dispatch of necessary equipment like moisture meters, paddy cleaners, scales, tarpaulins, and gunny bags to the centers. He said Flex banners detailing the support price should be displayed at each center.

The meeting was attended by District Civil Supplies Officer Srinivas, PD DRDA Chinna Obulesu, District Agriculture Officer Chandrashekar, Co-operative Officer Raghu, DM Civil Supplies Rajender, Marketing Officer Swarn Singh, and representatives from the rice mills, among others.