Vijayawada: Government to buy 30L tonne paddy said Agriculture Minister K Kannababu

Vijayawada: Agriculture Minister K Kannababu said here on Wednesday that the government would purchase 30 lakh tonne paddy this rabi season.

Addressing newsmen along with special chief secretary Poonam Malakondaiah and special secretary of the marketing department Madhusudan Reddy, the minister said that the state government took various issues to the notice of the Centre keeping in view the harvesting season in the state.

He said that the government issued a GO relaxing the time up to 1 pm for farm works. He recalled that the Centre has announced minimum support price for banana, sweet lime and tomato crops. He said that the state government is purchasing sweet lime and banana from the farmers of Kadapa and Anantapur districts.

Referring to the shortage of gunny bags, he said that the state needs 45,000 bales of bags every year and they are not available due to the lockdown in Bengal. He appealed to the Centre to exempt jute mills from lockdown and allow the supply of gunny bags.There are 4,000 paddy harvesting machines in the state, he said and appealed to the farmers to pay only Rs 2,000 per hour for the machines.

He expressed satisfaction over the recovery of poultry sector. NECC chairman Kutumba Rao, special chief secretary Poonam Malakondaiah also spoke.