For weeks, farmers across Telangana have been guarding tarpaulin-covered heaps of paddy under the open sky, anxiously watching the occasional dark clouds as procurement delays stretch on.An untimely spell of rain can soak their grain overnight while prolonged delays in procurement are draining farmers financially through mounting labour and transport costs. With the next sowing season fast approaching, many fear they may be forced into fresh debt before they are even paid for the current harvest.In Gopalapuram village of Jammikunta mandal in Karimnagar district, 60-year-old farmer S. Shankaraiah is battling a crisis of his own. On May 5, a fire reduced his three-acre maize crop to ashes just days before harvest. The blaze also destroyed another 67 acres of standing maize in neighbouring farms.But the loss of maize is only one part of his distress; Shankaraiah is now waiting for the procurement of 35 bags of paddy harvested from his remaining land. “The only solace is that the harvested paddy escaped the fire. We need compensation for the maize loss and faster procurement to survive these difficult times,” he says.Nearly 150 kilometres away in Devulamma Nagaram village of Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district, 48-year-old farmer Yadamma faces a different battle. On a hot afternoon in the second week of May, she bends repeatedly to gather paddy spread over tarpaulin sheets into a tub before pouring it onto a mound. The grain had been partially soaked during rain last Sunday. Since then, Yadamma, her family members and hired workers have been drying the grain repeatedly before it can be sold at a government procurement centre.“The signs of untimely rain scare us,” she says while lifting another tub of grain under the harsh afternoon sun.Every evening, the family gathers the paddy into heaps and covers it with tarpaulin sheets fearing another spell of rainIt has been 28 days since several farmers in the village brought their produce to the IKP procurement centre. “We really hope it gets cleared soon,” Yadamma says.The family pays around ₹800 per day to each worker and to reduce costs, they also pick up tubs and shovels themselves. With the next sowing season approaching, Yadamma fears they may have to borrow money for fresh investment if payments for the current crop are further delayed.Across procurement centres run by Indira Kranthi Patham (IKP), Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS) and other agencies in Telangana, similar scenes are unfolding as farmers wait for the procurement of paddy, maize, jowar, bengal gram and sunflower. At several centres, grain lies under the open sky for weeks, exposed to heat, dust and untimely rain.Desperation to sell the produce, fear of crop damage and anxiety over mounting debts are among the most common concerns voiced by farmers across districts.Record harvest, rising distressIronically, the distress has emerged in a season of record cultivation. Officials of the Agriculture Department say favourable conditions such as availability of irrigation water from projects, healthy groundwater levels and adequate input supply helped bring over 92.17 lakh acres under cultivation this rabi season, the highest ever in Telangana.Paddy alone was cultivated in over 65.42 lakh acres, maize in nearly 16.37 lakh acres and jowar in more than 4.03 lakh acres. Other rabi crops such as bengal gram, groundnut, greengram, sesamum, sunflower and safflower also contributed to the record acreage.With conducive weather and irrigation support, paddy production is estimated at around 1.6 crore tonnes with an average yield of 24 quintals per acre. Maize production is estimated at 43.49 lakh tonnes with an average yield of 26.6 quintals per acre while jowar output is estimated at 4.03 lakh tonnes with an average yield of 10 quintals per acre.To handle the output, the State government opened 8,575 procurement centres, including around 3,500 IKP centres and 4,350 centres run by PACS, with a target of procuring 90 lakh tonnes of paddy this season.As of May 13, around 30 lakh tonnes had been procured and ₹4,520 crore credited to farmers’ bank accounts, according to the Telangana State Civil Supplies Corporation. The State has also procured nearly 7 lakh tonnes of maize and some quantities of bengal gram and sunflower after the Centre allegedly refused to support procurement of those crops.