A.P. govt. has procured 8.22 lakh metric tonnes of paddy, says Minister

Civil Supplies Minister Nadendla Manohar said that the department has so far procured 8.22 lakh Metric Tonnes (MT) of paddy and credited ₹1,713 crore into the bank accounts of farmers, ensuring that farmers have received the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for their produce. 

The YSRCP government had procured 3,33,155 MT in 2022-23 financial year, for which a sum of nearly ₹680 crore was paid to the farmers, he noted. 

Addressing the media here on Thursday, Mr. Manohar said paddy was being purchased at the farm gates and money was being deposited to the farmers’ accounts within four to six hours.

He said that the previous government had left pending dues of ₹1,674 crore to farmers, which the NDA government has cleared despite financial constraints. This season, paddy procurement in Krishna district alone reached a record 1.07 lakh MT and more than 1 lakh MT was purchased from the Godavari districts. 

Only 394 and 455 trucks were registered for the transportation of the grains in 2022-23 and 2023-24 respectively. Under the coalition government, 2,715 trucks have been registered with the Transport Department.

​Transport arrears of ₹9 crore for the kharif and rabi seasons in Krishna, West Godavari, and Eluru districts have been cleared on Thursday. 

Mr. Manohar said 7.53 crore gunny bags were initially arranged at the Farmer Service Centers (RBKs) and an additional 1 lakh bags were made available following instructions of the Chief Minister. Efforts were on to procure 51 lakh MT of paddy as per the Central government norms. 

The government was offering a support price of ₹1,792 per 75 kg bag and it was geared up to buy the entire yield based on e-Crop bookings and gave a priority to purchasing fine quality rice for the mid-day meal scheme, he added.