Hyderabad: Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy ordered urgent steps for paddy protection rain alert, directing officials to scale up procurement and prevent crop losses.
He issued the directions during a video conference with district ministers, collectors, and senior officials on Monday. The review followed reports of heavy summer showers affecting multiple districts.
The meeting assessed paddy arrivals and procurement progress. It also focused on removing bottlenecks and protecting farmers from losses due to unseasonal rains and heatwave conditions.
Uttam Kumar Reddy placed the entire machinery involved in Minimum Support Price operations on high alert. He stressed the need for continuous weather monitoring and timely alerts to farmers.
Paddy protection rain alert drives procurement push
Procurement reached around 14 lakh metric tonnes, with all 8,575 Paddy Procurement Centres operational. This included over 8 lakh metric tonnes of coarse varieties.
Officials remitted more than Rs. 1,365 crore to farmers’ accounts. The Minister said MSP operations would remain critical for achieving Rabi season targets.
He noted that paddy arrivals would increase in the coming days. Therefore, he directed an immediate ramp-up of procurement, especially in high-volume centres in Nalgonda and Nizamabad districts.
Unseasonal rains with strong winds damaged paddy stocks in several districts. These included Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar, and Khammam.
Paddy protection rain alert targets damage control
The Nalgonda collector reported 299 metric tonnes of wet paddy across four centres after a sudden storm. The incident occurred despite prior alerts, as winds blew away tarpaulins.
Similar damage was reported in Mahabubabad, Suryapet, Khammam, and Kothagudem districts. The Minister directed collectors to prioritise protection of farmers’ produce.
He instructed officials to position tarpaulins in advance at all procurement centres. This measure would be based on daily weather forecasts.
Uttam Kumar Reddy also asked officials to prepare for continued unseasonal rains over the next three to four days. He directed them to take all precautionary measures to prevent further losses.