After registering a bumper paddy crop of about 1.46 crore tonnes in the kharif season, Telangana estimates it will see a repeat of that number in the rabi season as well, taking the total annual paddy production to 2.96 crore tonnes.
As the season comes to a close, the Government is preparing to procure at least two-thirds of the produce, spending over ₹20,000 crore.
Farmers grew paddy on about 22.87 lakh hectares in the rabi season, as against the season’s normal of 20.83 lakh hectares, showing a 10 per cent increase.
The rabi, however, poses challenges for the State as not many States consume the rice grown in the summer season. Because of excessive summer temperatures, the grain turns brittle prompting the millers to convert it into boiled rice.
Meanwhile, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Civil Supplies Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy appealed to the Union government to accept 18 lakh tonnes of paddy from the kharif season for the Central pool.
“We have procured an additional 18 lakh tonnes in the 2025-26 kharif marketing season. We appeal to you to purchase it through the Food Corporation of India,” they said in a letter to Union Cabinet Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Prahlad Joshi.
They also asked the Minister to consider procuring 10 lakh tonnes of rice from the 2024-25 rabi season.
Published on March 4, 2026