TRS government responsible for paddy procurement crisis: Kishan Reddy

Farmers not given good seed, or access to latest technology; all paddy grown this year to be bought from farmers, says Union Minister

Union Minister for Tourism, Culture and Northeast States G. Kishan Reddy has accused the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government in the State of having “failed to provide the necessary technology to the rice millers or appropriate seeds to the farmers to see that paddy fit to be processed as raw rice alone is grown and not the one that has to be processed and sold as parboiled rice.”

“What has the State government done all these years to bring about a change in technology after having assured the Centre that steps will be taken to introduce measures to ensure only raw rice is produced and not one with high broken grain content which can only be processed as boiled rice? Has any effort been made to educate the farmers?” he questioned at a press conference in New Delhi.

Flanked by his party MPs, Bandi Sanjay Kumar and S. Babu Rao, the Member of Parliament from Secunderabad once again reiterated that this year’s entire produce, whether it is raw rice or fit for boiled rice, will be purchased by the Central government. “We want to assure the farmers that the Modi government is with them and every single grain will be purchased, please take your produce to the nearest procurement centre,” he said.