Paddy Procurement Gains Pace as Rains Set in; Millers Reluctant to Take Rabi Stocks
Officials have increased the deployment of hamalis for loading and unloading operations and are arranging additional lorries to move procured paddy to rice mills and storage godowns
ADILABAD: District authorities in Nirmal and Mancherial have stepped up paddy procurement and transportation efforts with the onset of rains, even as some rice mill owners remain reluctant to accept Rabi paddy for milling.
Officials have increased the deployment of hamalis for loading and unloading operations and are arranging additional lorries to move procured paddy to rice mills and storage godowns. Government agencies, including IKP, DCMS and Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies, are involved in the procurement process.
According to officials, only 20 to 30 per cent of paddy remains at several procurement centres. Civil supplies officials are also contacting rice mill owners to ascertain their willingness to receive paddy stocks, as large quantities need to be shifted from procurement centres.
Paddy cultivation is extensive in Nirmal and Mancherial districts, particularly under the Kadam ayacut.
Nirmal collector Bhavesh Mishra directed officials to redeploy additional hamalis from centres where procurement has been completed to locations where procurement is still under way. He inspected procurement centres at Sarangapur mandal headquarters, Yakapalli village, Khanapur mandal headquarters and Maskapur village.
During the visit, the collector reviewed the quantity of paddy yet to be procured and lifted. He assured farmers that the government would procure every grain brought to procurement centres and urged them not to panic.
He also advised officials to prioritise the transportation of procured paddy to mills and godowns in view of the rains, which have affected several parts of Nirmal, Komaram Bheem and Adilabad districts.
Meanwhile, officials in Mancherial inspected the procurement centres in Kottapally and Vemanapally mandals.
Sources said some rice mill owners are not extending full cooperation in storing procured paddy. Others are reportedly reluctant to mill coarse rice varieties cultivated during the Rabi season, citing a higher proportion of broken rice during processing.
Fine-quality paddy accounts for only 30 to 40 per cent of Rabi cultivation, while the remaining crop consists largely of coarse varieties across the erstwhile Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal and Nizamabad districts.
A rice mill owner from Peddapalli said millers generally prefer paddy allotted during the Kharif season. He maintained that milling coarse rice often results in higher quantities of broken rice, forcing millers to procure additional rice from other sources to meet prescribed norms.
