Telangana accounts for 60% of India's total Yasangi procurement: Uttam

■  Telangana's share is expected to rise to nearly 75% of national Yasangi procurement by the end of the season.

■  The State has surpassed the Centre's 52 LMT procurement ceiling, with procure- ment already excee-ding the target by 115%.

metro india news  I hyderabad

Minister for Irrigation and Civil Supplies, N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, on Friday said Telangana was carrying out what could be the most successful paddy procurement operation in the country, with procurement already crossing 60 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) during the ongoing Yasangi (Rabi) season.

Addressing a press conference at the Secretariat along with Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao, BC Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, Minority Welfare Minister Mohammed Azharuddin, MPs and senior officials, Uttam Kumar Reddy said Telangana had emerged as the backbone of India’s food grain procurement system.

“Nearly 60 per cent of all paddy procured in India during the current Yasangi season has come from Telangana alone. By the end of the season, the State is expected to contribute nearly 75 per cent of the country’s total Yasangi procurement,” he said.

The Minister said Telangana had already procured 60 LMT of paddy, far ahead of Andhra Pradesh (24 LMT), Tamil Nadu (11-12 LMT), Maharashtra (3 LMT) and Kerala (2 LMT). He added that Telangana was also the leading State in supplying rice to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) under the Central Pool mechanism.

Uttam Kumar Reddy pointed out that the Centre had agreed to procure only up to 52 LMT from Telangana, but the State had already surpassed 60 LMT.

“This reflects both the extraordinary production levels achieved by our farmers and the Congress Government’s commitment to protecting farmer interests,” he said.

According to him, paddy cultivation during Yasangi 2025-26 covered 64.36 lakh acres, with estimated production of 141 lakh metric tonnes. Procurement operations were being accelerated to conclude before the onset of the southwest monsoon in early June.

To ensure smooth procurement, the State set up 8,575 procurement centres, deployed nearly 13,000 transport vehicles and mobilised over two lakh personnel. MSP payments worth Rs. 11,050 crore have already been credited directly to farmers’ bank accounts.

The Minister said procurement operations and farmer payments under the current KMS 2025-26 season had involved nearly Rs. 39,300 crore.

Referring to recent unseasonal rains, he said the government transported over 10,214 metric tonnes of rain-soaked paddy to boiled rice mills to ensure affected farmers received MSP without hardship.

Ministers Tummala Nageswara Rao and Ponnam Prabhakar criticised BJP and BRS leaders for “politically motivated campaigns” over procurement, asserting that the ongoing drive was unprecedented in Telangana’s history.