600% Rise in Paddy Procurement From Telangana: Centre

Nalgonda: Union minister for consumer affairs Pralhad Joshi on Thursday said the Centre was committed to strengthening infrastructure, connectivity and welfare systems in Telangana.

Noting that Nalgonda ranked first in paddy production in Telangana, Joshi noted that 62,000 metric tonnes of storage capacity was available at the FCI divisional office premises. He added that another godown would be constructed in Nalgonda if the state government allocated land.

The Union minister was speaking after inaugurating the divisional office of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) at Pedda Banda in Nalgonda, along with irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and roads and buildings minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy.

Highlighting that paddy procurement from Telangana has increased by 600 per cent since 2014-15, Joshi said the FCI provided minimum support price (MSP) procurement assistance to 1.27 crore farmers annually, and ₹2.25 lakh crore was transferred directly into farmers’ bank accounts in 2023–24.

On the distribution front, he said FCI reached over 80 crore beneficiaries every month, distributing more than 550 lakh metric tonnes of food grains annually under the world’s largest food security programme.

He said the Centre supplies 1.11 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of food grains to Telangana every month, including one LMT of rice and 3,370 metric tonnes of wheat. All ration cards have been digitised to strengthen food security and the Public Distribution System (PDS), he said.

Joshi added that the Centre would continue to expand FCI’s operational capacity and service delivery in Telangana and the southern region.

Speaking at the event, minister Uttam Kumar Reddy urged the Union minister to release Telangana’s pending custom milling rice (CMR) dues of ₹1,400 crore and another ₹343 crore for the public distribution system. He sought an extension of CMR delivery timelines to 60 days for the 2024-25 kharif season and 120 days for the yasangi season.

Uttam Kumar Reddy also requested additional railway rakes for CMR transportation and demanded that the procurement target for 2025-26 be increased to 80 lakh metric tonnes. He noted that farmers produced 150 lakh metric tonnes of paddy this kharif season and the state plans to procure 80 lakh metric tonnes through 880 procurement centres despite pending bills of ₹29,000 crore.

Minister Venkat Reddy urged the Centre to sanction a 2,500-metric-tonne mosambi cold storage facility in Nalgonda, noting that the district exports the fruit to several states. Nalgonda MP Kunduru Raghuveer Reddy, MLC Kethavath Shanker Naik and district collector Ila Thripati also attended the programme.