With the Covid-19 cases witnessing a sharp spike in the State, the Telangana Government has decided to procure rabi paddy at the village level procurement centres as it did last year.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao said as many as 6,408 procurement centres would be opened to purchase about 80 lakh tonnes of paddy during the current rabi season.

Of the 6,408 centres, the IKP (Indira Kranthi Patham) will operate 2,131 centres and primary agricultural cooperative societies will run 3,964 centres.

The State, which grew paddy on 52.76 lakh acres, expects an output of 1.17 crore tonnes of the coarse variety and 21 lakh tonnes of the fine variety.

During the rabi last year, the Civil Supplies Department procured nearly 64 lakh tonnes of paddy.

After dropping hints that the government would not procure paddy this season citing the three Central agri laws), the Government had taken a decision early this month to procure the paddy output from the rabi season. The Chief Minister asked the farmers to bring paddy with not more than 17 per cent moisture.

“The farmers should ensure that the moisture percentage is less and should follow conditions of the minimum support price,” an official of the Chief Minister’s Office, said.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister asked the officials of the Water Resources Department to ensure water supply to the fields under various irrigation projects for another 10 days in order to save the crop towards the end of the season.

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