Telangana has registered a record paddy procurement of 14 million tonnes (mt) in the agricultural season 2020-21 as against 11.1 mt in the previous year.
The State produced 30 mt of paddy during the year.
“In the first year of the State’s formation (2014-15), the State procured only 2.43 mt. It has gone up 5.5 times in the last seven years,” Telangana Civil Supplies Corporation Chairman M Srinivas Reddy has said.
“The total acreage went up to 106 lakh acres in 2020-21 against 35 lakh acres in 2014-15. As against a procurement target of 7-8 mt in the rabi season, the Civil Supplies Department procured nine mt,” he said.
The State spent ₹16,900 crore in the rabi to procure paddy from 14.21 lakh farmers. The farmers suffered losses in the procurement season with untimely rains damaging the standing crop and the harvested produce.