The Civil Supplies Department reported on Monday that the Rabi 2025-26 paddy procurement season is progressing at full capacity, with a total procurement of 40.3 lakh metric tonnes of paddy so far.

Among districts, Nizamabad recorded the highest procurement at 6.20 LMT, followed by Nalgonda with 5.51 LMT, Kamareddy with 3.03 LMT, Suryapet with 2.70 LMT, and Peddapalli with 2.20 LMT. According to officials, the government has credited Rs 6,566 crore directly into the bank accounts of farmers as Minimum Support Price payments, benefiting more than 5.5 lakh cultivators across the state.

The department said farmers are supplying both fine and coarse varieties of paddy in large quantities. So far, 11 LMT of fine variety has been procured, accounting for 92 per cent of its arrivals, while 29 LMT of coarse variety has been procured, representing 81 per cent of total arrivals. To manage the large inflow of grain, a network of 8,575 Paddy Purchase Centres has been made operational across all districts. These include 4,455 centres run by Primary Agricultural Credit Societies, which have procured 24 LMT of paddy, and 3,563 centres managed by Indira Kranthi Patham, handling 14 LMT. An additional 557 centres have procured around 2 LMT.

Officials said 18.6 crore gunny bags and adequate tarpaulins have been positioned across procurement centres to ensure uninterrupted operations and safeguard stored grain. To prevent storage bottlenecks, the department has deployed an expanded fleet of 12,000 transport vehicles, including lorries, tractors, and DCM vehicles, to move procured paddy directly to mills. Special officers have been appointed at both centres and mills to supervise loading and unloading operations. Authorities are addressing hamali shortages, and farmers can contact the toll-free helpline at 1967.