Telangana: 580 paddy procurement centres opened in Nalgonda

Nalgonda: Amid lockdown hiccups, the officials opened 580 paddy procurement centres under PACS and IKP for the 619 identified revenue villages in Nalgonda district.

Agriculture labour in the villages are working as hamailies at paddy procurement centers and sub centers but the main problem is shortage of labor at mills as most of the mill labor hails from Bihar and struck in their native places due to the lockdown. Meanwhile, the sudden rains are giving shudders to the farmers as there is severe shortagcenterscenterse of tarpaulins at procurement centers.

Agriculture Department Joint Director G Sridhar Reddy said that as many as 1,85,784 farmers had cultivated paddy in 3,79,766 acres in Nalgonda district and expected 7.96 lakh metric tonnes yield. Paddy in 1,16,902 acres was harvested and 9,867 farmers got tokens to sell their paddy at purchasing center by Thursday. He further informed that as many as 9,781 metric tonnes worth Rs 17.9 crores paddy was procured from the farmers as on April 9.

Sridhar Reddy informed that crops were damaged in 24 hectares in the district due to hailstorm. Paddy in eight hectares in Chintapally mandal of Devarakonda division and 18 hectares in Nampally mandal of Munugodu division was damaged due to unseasonal rains on Thursday.

Additional Collector V Chandra Shekar informed that the entire process of paddy procurement in the district will be completed within the next 40 days. He urged all the farmers of the district to maintain social distance at paddy purchasing centers to protect themselves from coronavirus.

Farmers Ananth Reddy of Sandenapally village, Nalgonda mandal and Srinivas of Perika Kondaram of Shaligouraram mandal lamented that shortage of tarpaulins is a major concern.