Telangana procured 9.57 lakh metric tons of maize by May 15: Minister

He further stated that the government is ready to procure the jowar crop for Rs 1,000 crores.

Hyderabad: Telangana Agriculture Minister Thummala Nageswara Rao on Friday, May 15, said that the state government has purchased 9.57 lakh metric tons of maize at a price of Rs 4,000 crore from the farmers.

He criticised the Centre, claiming it was ignoring farmers who are facing difficulties due to untimely rains.

Holding a review meeting with senior officials of the Agriculture and Marketing department at the Secretariat, the Minister discussed procurement of maize, storage facilities, availability of gunny bags, transportation arrangements and central government policies.

Nageswara Rao said that even though the central government has not purchased it, the state government has procured maize for Rs 4,000 crores with its own funds as per the orders of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy.

He stated that the government is ready to procure the jowar crop for Rs 1,000 crores.

Warehouse and gunny bag requirements

The minister said that a total of 15.07 lakh metric tons of warehouse capacity is required to store the collected maize. However, only 11.40 lakh metric tons of storage capacity is presently available in the state.

Therefore, he instructed the marketing officers to immediately identify additional warehouses and arrange for 3.29 lakh metric tons of storage capacity.

On the other hand, of the three crore gunny bags required for maize procurement, two crore bags have been supplied so far. The minister instructed officials to supply the remaining one crore bags immediately.

He also instructed that there should not be any shortage of porters or lorries at the purchase centres.

Rao urges Centre to bring maize and sorghum under PSS

Nageswara Rao expressed regret that despite repeated requests, the central government has not brought maize and sorghum under the Price Support Scheme (PSS).

Regarding the 25 per cent ceiling on the purchase of groundnut and sunflower crops under the PSS, Rao demanded that the Centre immediately increase it to 50 per cent.

He said that he would write a letter to the Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan once again in this regard.