Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister KCR said that TRS Government will procure paddy from the farmers from Wednesday onwards at the village level itself. KCR in a press conference on Tuesday said that the Cabinet took a decision to procure the entire paddy crop from farmers during ongoing Rabi season.

The Government will pay Rs 1960/ Quintal, the price will be directly credited to the farmers account, he said. KCR convened cabinet meeting on Tuesday at Pragathi Bhavan and took the decision had led a protest in Delhi on Monday demanding the Centre to procure the entire paddy crop. He said that the decision has been taken in the interest of the farmers. Purchasing centres will be opened in all villages from Wednesday.

KCR appealed to farmers not to sell the paddy at less than MSP. He assured farmers that the State Government will procure every grain though it may suffer a loss of Rs 3,000 crore to Rs 3,500 crore. He demanded that the Centre should compensate the state for 37% of losses during Rabi season as it has the Constitutional duty to ensure food security of the country.

Due to high temperature during the season, the percentage of broken rice will be higher. While during Kharif season, one quintal of paddy yields 67 kg rice, during Rabi season, only 34 to 35 kg rice is produced, he said. A four-member committee headed by the Chief Secretary will study how to minimize the loss due to broken rice.
He said it was India’s misfortune that there is an anti-farmer Government at the Centre and alleged a conspiracy to hand over agriculture to the corporate sector. During Rabi season, paddy cultivation was taken up in Telangana on 35.84 lakh acres, the highest in the country. Andhra Pradesh stands at distant second at 16.68 lakh acre. Estimated paddy production in Telangana is 83.83 lakh tonnes, he said.