The Centre has said no to paddy procurement in Telangana this rabi season as it has reiterated its stand that it would purchase the foodgrains, provided the State Government supplies raw rice by getting the paddy purchased at minimum support price custom milled as raw rice.
“The Centre’s intention is crystal clear that it would not procure paddy in Telangana this season. Knowing well that processing the paddy produced in rabi season as raw rice is not possible, it’s keeping on talking about raw rice,” Telangana Minister for Agriculture S. Niranjan Reddy said after meeting Union Minister for Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal in New Delhi on Thursday, as part of a delegation of Ministers and MPs.
Mr. Niranjan Reddy explained that it was highly uneconomical to process rabi paddy as raw rice due to high broken grain percentage, going up to 50%, owing to the hot weather conditions that prevailed in Telangana during the season. That was why the paddy produced in the State was processed as parboiled rice to keep the out-turn economical.
