Rs 5,500 Cr for Telangana to procure paddy at MSP

Hyderabad: Amidst protests against the new farm legislation and demand for continuing the Minimum Support Price (MSP) regime, the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) has sanctioned Rs 5,500 crore, as the first instalment, to Telangana for Kharif paddy procurement.

The NCDC, the apex financing organisation of the Union agriculture ministry, sanctioned a total amount of Rs 19,444 crore to Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Telangana.

The amount has been sanctioned to assist the states/state marketing federations in undertaking paddy procurement operations in a scheduled manner through their respective cooperative organisations. Chhattisgarh was sanctioned a highest amount of Rs 9,000 crore while Haryana was sanctioned Rs 5,444 crore.

This proactive step by the NCDC during the COVID crisis will give the much needed financial support to farmers of the three states, who account for nearly 75 per cent of the paddy production in the country.

The central government also said that the financial aid will help the state agencies start procurement operations immediately. It will provide support to farmers to sell their produce at the government notified MSP, officials said.

Talking about the procurement process, managing director, NCDC, Sundeep Nayak said that in response to the clarion call given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, NCDC was ready to assist more states in carrying out the MSP operations, which gain significance in the wake of the protests against the farm bills.

Farmers across the country are still protesting against the new farm bills even while President Ramnath Kovind has given his assent on Sunday, making them into Acts.