Procurement Will Pick Up Pace Soon: Civil Supplies Officials

Hyderabad: The government’s decision to announce a bonus of Rs 500 for fine varieties of paddy appears to have boosted their production in the state, delaying the arrival of paddy at procurement centres, say civil supplies department officials.

Farmers have sown paddy in more land this year at 66,69,641 acres compared to 57,18,527 acres last year, which poses challenges to the government in procurement.

According to the officials, the procurement of paddy by the Civil Supplies Corporation is lower compared to last year owing to various reasons. A major reason they say is the crop cycle of the fine varieties is between 120 to 160 days, unlike the 90 to 120 days for coarse varieties. They cited the increase in acreage of fine varieties to beef up their argument.

The fine variety of rice is also sought after by the rice millers who purchase paddy from farmers in the open market. Millers, who have driers, purchase and store the paddy to sell in the open market.

“The market rate of paddy was higher. So many farmers would have sold the crop to private traders. They started purchases much earlier. Some of the farmers also have buyback agreements with millers or traders, so some of the grain goes to them,” said D.S. Chauhan, principal secretary, of Civil Supplies Corporation.

The rains in some districts make the fields non-conducive for harvesting. The land has to be dry for the harvester to cut the crop. Hiring a chain based harvester increases the cost for the farmer, he said.

Typically, the arrival of paddy starts with the Nalgonda and Medak districts in the first week of October and extends up to the fourth week of November in Mahabubabad, Vikarabad and Adilabad districts.

Officials inform that the procurement will reach the levels witnessed in the previous year’s record within a week or 10 days and surpass them later.

They cited that the procurement at the paddy purchase centres had increased from 95,140 lakh metric tonnes on November 5, 2024 to 1,53,138 LMT by the next day. The corresponding figure for the day in 2023 was around 3,04,000 LMT they say will be matched soon. So far of the 66,69,641 acres of paddy 33,94,482 acres have been harvested as per data from the agriculture department.

The officials also attribute the lower procurement to delay in the monsoon itself. Many reservoirs, they recall, had gone to dead storage level delaying the sowing of the crop in many areas. With the onset of winter the paddy takes time to reach the moisture level of 17 per cent as required by the fair average quality norms fixed by the central government. The crop when cut would have moisture ranging from 26 to 30 per cent.

The officials inform that those aggrieved about not getting minimum support price or other issues can call the toll free helpline 1967 or 180042500333.