Telangana farmers unhappy with paddy procurement by PACS

HYDERABAD Farmers expressed displeasure over paddy procurement being undertaken by some primary agriculture cooperative societies They said that the hand-in-glove tactics of some societies and rice millers are adversely impacting the procurement processTo ensure minimum support price MSP for paddy the state government roped in government agencies Primary agriculture cooperative societies PACS and women self-help groups play a key role in the procurement processThe government approved Rs 1868 MSP for common variety paddy per quintal and for Grade A variety Rs 1888 for 2020-21 However for the 2021-22 marketing season the MSP has been hiked to Rs1940 for the common variety and Rs1960 for Grade AIn order to strengthen the financial base of PACS the government gradually increased the number of paddy procurement centres Taking advantage some society chairpersons have resorted to irregularities Allegedly they failed to procure paddy in time and offered low pricesSpeaking to Deccan Chronicle Ravi a farmer from Gupanpally village in Nizamabad mandal said that women self-help groups went about paddy procurement better than PACS We are forced to wait for a long time in society he saidKamareddy district collector A Sharath said that farmers should be cautious while selling paddy as price is based on the quality of the produce Replying to a question he said that they have never received any complaints against primary agriculture cooperative societiesMeanwhile the state government set up around 7000 paddy procurement centres in PACS across the state Around 141 crore metric tonnes of paddy were procured so far civil supplies sources said Offering prices below the MSP and under-weighment issues will be tackled by civil supplies and legal metrology departments they said