VIJAYAWADA, Dec 8: The Centre has agreed to allocate wheat and millets to Andhra Pradesh from January 2026 to be distributed under the PDS scheme, state Civil Supplies Minister Nadendla Manohar said on Monday.
He was talking to the media after meeting union Civil Supplies Minister Pralhad Joshi in New Delhi. Manohar informed that AP government had already begun the distribution of Ragi millets as a pilot project in north AP districts.
The state minister apprised Pralhad Joshi about the paddy procurement process in AP. Manohar said that the Centre had set a target for AP government to procure 51 lakh metric tonnes of paddy during the kharif season. The state government had so far purchased over 17.37 lakh metric tonnes of paddy from 2.69 lakh farmers in 25 days and the paddy procurement process had been further expedited.
On an average, the government is purchasing over 90,000 metric tonnes of paddy from the farmers, the Minister informed. The money is being credited into the bank accounts of farmers within 24 hours of purchasing their paddy.
“The civil supplies department has kept ready 7.87 crore gunny bags for supply to the farmers to transport their paddy produce to the purchasing centres. The government has also delivered 96,000 metric tonnes of 10 percent broken rice. All rice mills are working their full capacity to reach their target,” Manohar said.
Manohar said that the union Civil Supplies Minister appreciated Andhra Pradesh for distributing Custom Milled Rice (CMR) steadily in prescribed time.
He advised the paddy farmers not to sell their produce through mediators as the government had taken all steps to purchase through procurement centres. (UNI)
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