Paddy procurement at the minimum support price reached 44.72 lakh tonne in Telangana till December 14 of the 2022-23 kharif marketing season, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.
In Telangana, procurement of paddy is undertaken by the state government through its agencies and only the surplus rice after meeting the state's requirement is delivered to Food Corporation of India (FCI) in central pool for movement to deficit/consuming states.
"Up to December 14, 2022, 44.72 lakh tonne of paddy with MSP (Minimum Support Price) value of Rs 92,12.63 crore has been procured in Telangana against the estimate of 74.62 lakh tonne," Minister of State for Food and Consumer Affairs Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
Paddy procurement has increased in the last five years.
Kharif marketing season started from October.
Total paddy buying stood at 119.05 lakh tonne in 2021-22, 141.09 lakh tonne in 2020-21, 111.26 lakh tonne in 2019-20, 77.46 lakh tonne in 2018-19 and 54 lakh tonne in 2017-18, she added.
The minister was responding to a query by member and Telangana Congress President Anumala Revanth Reddy.