Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers in Telangana cagey about procurement of parboiled rice

HYDERABAD: Farmers in the north may have been relieved by the repeal of farm laws, but their counterparts in Telangana are worried as they are caught between the central and state governments on the issue of paddy procurement. Farmers and agriculture activists are demanding an immediate solution to the burning issue as well as a clarification on the procurement of parboiled rice. Paddy procurement has been slow in the state owing to untimely rains and 90% of the harvest is yet to be procured. “There is confusion on what the Centre and the state government are saying. The state government is taking about the paddy procurement of the rabi season, while the BJP state unit is talking about the delay in paddy procurement in this season. Both are avoiding uncomfortable questions, but farmers are in despair,” agriculture scientist GV Ramanjaneyulu said. The Centre said on Thursday that it was verifying the state’s request for extra procurement this season, but did not mention anything about parboiled rice in the coming season, but asked the state to limit supplies. Farmers are also concerned about switching to other crops. “The government is now urging us to move to other crops, but we cannot do so because thorough conversion takes a lot of time,” said Mohammad Gouse, a farmer from Narayanpet. Finance minister T Harish Rao urged centra government to purchase parboiled rice from Telangana. He said the state government will buy rainy season produce and that arrangements have been made. “But the Centre must buy 90% of total production of paddy from Telangana in the same way that it does from Punjab,” he said. He alleged that the Centre was adopting double standards. “We will expose their duplicity. Procurement is delayed this season due to continuous rainfall and paddy has not dried up,” he said.

The Times of India

2021-11-20

Hyderabad