Comments
As the sowing phase for the rabi season is fast approaching, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in clearing the air concerning the present crisis around paddy.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, he wanted the Union government to come out with an annual procurement plan well ahead so that the State can plan its agricultural calendar. “The target for procurement is not fixed for the entire year at one go. Though the production is increasing by the year, the procurement quantities are not going up,” he said.
“Though the State produced 55.75 lakh tonnes this kharif, the procurement was only 32.66 lakh tonnes, which constitutes just 59 per cent of the total production. It is lower by 78 per cent if you compare with the procurement in 2019-20,” he pointed out. This, he said, is resulting in difficulties in preparing for the annual cropping plan.
Fix targets
The Chief Minister appealed to the Prime Minister to spell out the target for procurement of paddy in the upcoming rabi season. “I request you to direct the Food Corporation of India to increase the procurement target of 40 lakh tonnes for the current kharif season,” the Chief Minister said in the letter.
He also asked the Prime Minister to complete the procurement of the balance of 5 lakh tonnes of rice from the 2020-21 season.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.