BHUBANESWAR: With paddy procurement of the 2017 Kharif marketing season ending on April 30, the State Government on Thursday decided to start the Rabi procurement from May 1.Rabi paddy procurement will be confined to 18 districts and district-level procurement committees will decide the date of purchase basing on the status of harvest, informed Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Secretary VV Yadav after a high-level meeting here.
Chairing the State-level paddy procurement committee meeting, Chief Secretary Aditya Padhi asked the Department to ensure timely payment to farmers. Over 1 lakh farmers, including about 6,000 sharecroppers, have so far been registered with Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) to sell their paddy in Government identified market yards (mandis).
The number of registered farmers is likely to reach 1.5 lakh, Yadav said.So far, 419 PACS have registered with Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation (OSCSC), the Government agency for paddy procurement.Earlier, the State Government had set a target to procure total 53 lakh tonne of paddy (44 lakh tonne in Kharif and 9 lakh tonne in Rabi season) during the 2017 Kharif marketing season.The State Government has so far procured 38 lakh tonnes of Kharif paddy from 6.82 lakh farmers at an estimated cost of Rs 5,853 crore. Payment to the tune of Rs 5,826 crore has been made to the farmers.
The balance payment could not be sent to the accounts of the farmers due to certain issues in their accounts, he said.The Government has introduced paddy procurement automation system (P-PAS), an electronic platform through which money is being directly transferred to the accounts of farmers immediately after procurement of paddy and this has been extended to 308 blocks.Yadav told the meeting that recovery of rice from the custom millers is very encouraging. Rice millers have so far delivered 70 per cent rice for the paddy they have taken for milling.
Rice delivery from millers of Nuapada, Sambalpur, Subarnapur, Bargarh, Jagatsinghpur and Kalahandi is more than 80 per cent, he added.Govt's TargetOver 1 lakh farmers, including about 6,000 sharecroppers, registered with PACSNumber of registered farmers likely to reach 1.5 lakh419 PACS have registered with Odisha State Civil Supplies CorporationGovt had set a target to procure total 53 lakh tonne of paddy for both seasons38 lakh tonnes of Kharif paddy from 6.82 lakh farmers procuredRs 5,826 crore payment made to the farmersP-PAS extended to 308 blocksRice millers have delivered 70 pc rice for the paddy procured