Bhubaneswar: Process for procurement of Rabi Paddy would begin in Odisha from May 1. A decision to this effect was taken at the state level paddy procurement committee at the State Secretariat here on Thursday.
Presiding over the meeting, chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi asked the authorities of the Food Supply and Consumer Welfare department to simplify the registration process and ensure timely transfer of money to the bank account of the farmers.
Present at the meeting, secretary, the Food Supply and Consumer Welfare, Vir Vikram Yadav informed that till date a total of 1.05 lakh farmers have been registered so far. Stating that the registration process is underway, he said the number of registered farmers is expected to touch around 1. 5 lakh.
He further informed that of the registered farmers, about 6000 are share croppers.
It was decided that the procurement of the Rabi paddy would be made through Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) while all information relating to the paddy procurement would be made online on Paddy Procurement Automation System (P-PAS).
The farmers would be provided with the minimum support price (MSP) for Rabi paddy at Rs 1550 per quintal. Till date, 419 PACS have been registered for paddy procurement.
According to available information, Rabi paddy procurement would begin in 18 districts of which Bargarh, Kalahandi, Koraput, Nuapada, Sambalpur and Sonepur districts are the major producers of Rabi paddy.
It was revealed that 38 lakh tonne Kharif paddy has been procured while the process of procurement is underway in different districts while 6.82 lakh farmers in these districts have sold out paddy.
The cost of the Kharif paddy procured from 30 districts is estimated at Rs 5853 crore of which more than Rs 5826 crore has been credited to the bank account of the registered farmers towards MSP.
It was also revealed at the meeting that the collection of rice from the millers against the paddy procured by them has been satisfactory. The millers, till date have returned about 70 percent of rice.
The collection of rice from the millers in Nuapada, Sambalpur, Subarnapur, Bargarh, Jagatsinghpur and Kalahandi districts is more than 80 percent.
It was decided that the process of Kharif paddy procurement will be completed on April 30 and the procurement of Rabi paddy would begin from May 1.
The district level paddy procurement committee has been asked to fix the volume of Rabi paddy procurement depending on the production.
Among others, Agriculture Production Commissioner (APC) Gagan Kumar Dhal, Special Secretary, Commerce and Transport Manoj Kumar Mishra, managing director of Odisha Civil Supply Corporation (OCSC) Niranjan Nayak and senior officials of the concerned departments were present at the meeting.
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