Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday directed the authorities to bring a strict policy for paddy procurement and to also ensure it is done right at the farm gates through Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBKs).
During a review meeting with a group of ministers at his camp office in Amaravati, he emphasized taking up a transparent procedure for paddy procurement without any irregularities to provide remunerative prices for the farmers. Jagan Mohan Reddy said there should be no involvement of millers in paddy procurement and officials should keep tabs on payments, irregularities, e-KYC, and e-crop booking to make timely payments based on Aadhaar numbers in AP.
Moreover, he ordered officials to create awareness through agriculture advisory boards, VAAs and volunteers by distributing pamphlets to every farmer and displaying the details of the procurement in every RBK. The AP chief minister said that the paddy procurement should be done in front of the farmers through RBKs and strict measures should be taken ensuring transparency in checking the grain quality.
The state government, according to a press release from Jagan’s office, is moving with a new approach to benefit farmers in achieving good returns. “All the farmers should receive minimum support price without any exceptions and in this regard,” Jagan said, adding that appropriate steps should be taken for increasing the awareness of the farmers on paddy procurement.
Subsequently, officials informed him that cultivation is being done in an estimated area of 15.66 hectares across the state and expected a yield of 87 lakh MT. Moreover, it is estimated that about 50 lakh MT of paddy will be procured and stated that paddy cultivation is being done under 6884 RBKs.