New paddy procurement policy soon

The Andhra Pradesh government is preparing guidelines for paddy procurement from the next kharif season.

Civil supplies commissioner Harpreet Singh, who toured West Godavari and Krishna districts, held review meetings with officials, millers and the representatives of farmers on paddy procurement. He said the state government was preparing a new procurement policy and it would be implemented from the next year.

This year, the state government has set a target of procuring 8.7 million tonne paddy for kharif. However, till date, 6.8 million tonne had been procured by millers and government agencies, he said.

Though the procurement is slow, the government has increased the target for the next season to 9.1 million tonne. The increased target is distributed to West Godavari by 200,000 tonne, Guntur by 150,000 tonne and Mahaboobnagar, Karimnagar and Nalgonda by 100,000 tonne each.

The commissioner said the Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) had agreed to construct 600,000 tonne storage point in the state and this would be ready for the next kharif season.

Meanwhile, the farmers are up in arms against the government for not providing minimum support price (MSP) for paddy. While the government had announced Rs 1,030 MSP a quintal, they are paid between Rs 800 and Rs 900.