Speed Up Maize Procurement Operations: Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao

Telangana Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao on Saturday directed officials to further accelerate maize procurement operations in the state and ensure that farmers do not face any difficulties during the process.

During a review meeting held at the Secretariat with senior officials of the Agriculture and Marketing departments, the Minister held detailed discussions on procurement operations, storage facilities, availability of gunny bags, transportation arrangements, and policies of the Central government.

The Minister said that 9.57 lakh metric tonnes of maize had so far been procured from farmers across the state. Although the Centre had not undertaken procurement, he said the state government, under the directions of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy , was conducting maize procurement with its own funds at an estimated cost of Rs 4,000 crore . He further stated that the government was also prepared to procure sorghum crops with an allocation of Rs 1,100 crore .

Tummala Nageswara Rao said the state required a warehouse capacity of 15.07 lakh metric tonnes for storing the procured maize. At present, only 11.40 lakh metric tonnes of storage capacity was available, leaving an urgent requirement for an additional 3.29 lakh metric tonnes of storage space. He directed Marketing Department officials to immediately identify and arrange additional warehouses.

The Minister said nearly three crore gunny bags were required for maize procurement, but only two crore bags had been supplied so far. He instructed officials to ensure immediate availability of the remaining one crore gunny bags .

He also stressed that there should be no shortage of hamalis at procurement centres. Adequate numbers of lorries should be kept ready to ensure that the produce brought by farmers is weighed without delay and transported to warehouses promptly, he said. The Agriculture and Marketing departments were asked to work in coordination to ensure smooth transportation of produce from procurement centres to storage facilities.

Expressing concern over the Centre’s response, the Minister said the state government had repeatedly appealed to include maize and sorghum crops under the Price Support Scheme (PSS) , but no response had been received so far. He said it was unfortunate that the Centre had failed to respond despite farmers facing severe hardship due to unseasonal rains.

The Minister also demanded that the existing 25 per cent ceiling on procurement of Bengal gram and sunflower crops under the PSS be immediately increased to 50 per cent . He said another letter was being sent to the Union Agriculture Minister on the issue.

Tummala Nageswara Rao appealed to Union Ministers and Members of Parliament from Telangana to raise the problems faced by the state’s farmers with the Centre and work towards including maize and sorghum under the PSS. He asserted that ensuring remunerative prices for farmers’ produce was the responsibility of the Central government, while the state government remained committed to effectively managing procurement operations with farmer welfare as its primary objective.