NABARANGPUR: Hike of minimum support price (MSP) of paddy in Chhattisgarh has come as a boon for both farmers and millers of Nabarangpur. Procurement by the State that began in the district on December 1, has slowed down after the Congress raised MSP to Rs 2,500 per quintal and waived farm loan soon after coming to power in Chhattisgarh. In Nabarangpur that shares border with Chhattisgarh, farmers get MSP of `1,750 per quintal for common variety and Rs 1,770 for Grade-A variety.
Considering the difference of `750 in MSPs of both States, local, medium and large farmers are now reluctant to sell their paddy to Odisha State Civil Supply Corporation through mandis here. They are unwilling to let go of the opportunity to earn some extra bucks by selling their produce in neighbouring State.
Brundaban Tripathy, an activist, said a farmer can sell his paddy anywhere and to anyone in the country. “If a farmer gets more price for his paddy in the neighbouring State, why will he sell it here? Besides, the existing procurement process in Odisha is replete with hassles. To begin with, a farmer has to travel to large area multi-purpose cooperative societies (LAMPS) and mandis several times to sell his paddy,” he added and informed that after the MSP hike in Chhattisgarh, local traders and millers are offering to procure one quintal of paddy at `2,000 to `2,100 from the farmer’s doorstep.
Nabarangpur has 1,97,185 farmers who have land holding and of them, 1,23,048 are marginal farmers and the rest 74,137 are small, medium and large farmers. The marginal farmers, who live in rural areas and are covered under National Food Security Act (NFSA) and State Food Security Scheme (SFSS), are easy targets of middlemen as they do not enrol for procurement. Instead, they prefer to sell their paddy to meet their immediate financial requirement and in the process, fall prey to distress sale.
The Government purchases only 53 per cent of the total paddy produced by farmers which is required to meet its various schemes and does not buy the surplus stock. Farmers are left at the mercy of millers and traders to sell the remaining stock. While paddy production was 43,30,195 quintal last year in the district, only 13,29,110 quintal was purchased by Government. This year, the target is 11,89,000 quintal but according to reports of the Civil Supply Department, after procurement from 23,084 registered farmers, a surplus of 24,40,050 quintal will be left. Meanwhile, president of Pradesh Congress Committee, Pradeep Majhi had demanded enhancement of MSP in Odisha at par with Chhattisgarh.