BJP MPs seek higher rabi rice procurement target from Centre

Union Minister for Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy, along with BJP MPs from Telangana, on Wednesday urged Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Pralhad Joshi to enhance the State’s rabi 2025-26 rice procurement target beyond the approved 35 lakh metric tonnes.

The BJP delegation met Mr. Joshi in New Delhi and requested him to sympathetically consider increasing the procurement target in view of the actual quantity of paddy already purchased by the State government so that farmers do not face hardship.

Addressing the media later, Mr. Kishan Reddy, who is also the Secunderabad MP, alleged that while the Centre had permitted procurement of 53 lakh metric tonnes of paddy in Telangana, the State government had failed to effectively manage the procurement process.

He claimed that during the 2024-25 kharif season, the State was expected to procure and deliver 36 lakh metric tonnes of paddy to the Food Corporation of India (FCI), but less than 13% of the target was achieved and a similar situation prevailed during the 2024-25 rabi season.

The Union Minister further alleged that 45% of the rice procured during the 2025-26 kharif season and nearly 90% of the rice procured during the 2025-26 rabi season had not yet reached the FCI. The National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) had extended loans worth ₹1.16 lakh crore to the State over the last 12 years for procurement operations, including ₹37,000 crore for 2025-26. Of this, ₹22,700 crore had already been sanctioned during the current year.

He claimed that the procurement process gathered pace only after BJP MPs and MLAs staged protests and farmers raised concerns over delays. The responsibility for procurement, milling and delivery of rice to the FCI rests with the State government, he said.

Despite the Centre providing financial support for procurement operations, challenges such as a shortage of gunny bags, inadequate storage facilities and insufficient rice milling infrastructure persisted. Instead of addressing these issues, the State government was blaming the Centre, which bears 70% of the expenditure incurred on every kilogram of fine rice distributed to beneficiaries through the public distribution system, added Mr. Kishan Reddy.