ROURKELA/BOUDH : Paddy procurement in Sundargarh will begin from December 12 through 119 paddy procurement centres.Sundargarh Civil Supplies Officer (CSO) A Barik said in the first phase, the target is to procure about 1.30 lakh tonnes of paddy to process 88,700 tonnes of rice. He said 14 rice mills of the district have been authorised for custom milling of rice and 44 Large Area Multi-Purpose Societies (LAMPS) would set up 112 procurement centres, while two Regional Cooperative Marketing Societies would set up four paddy sale centres. A multi-purpose cooperative society will set up three paddy procurement centres.
The minimum support price for Fair Average Quality (FAQ) common variety is `1,750 per quintal, while FAQ A Grade would be `1,770 per quintal. Procurement would continue till April 30. He informed that in 2017-18 kharif crop season, the district had procured 1.47 lakh tonnes of paddy at the cost of `226 crore. He said the procurement target would be increased with Government approval this year. The Special Relief Commissioner to Revenue and Disaster Management Department had earlier notified 67,540 hectare (ha) of land as drought-hit in the district based on eye estimation report.
The overall paddy crop yield is likely to come down drastically this kharif crop season. The district had decided to take up paddy cultivation on 2.09 lakh ha in all 17 blocks, but crop damage was reported in 67,540 ha due to drought. Deficient rainfall led to over 50 per cent crop damage on 35,986 ha with Hemgir, Lefripara, Tangarpali, Sundargarh, Subdega, Balishankara, Bargaon and Kutra blocks facing severe drought condition. Crop damage of 33 to 50 per cent over 31,554 ha was reported from these blocks along with other blocks.
In Boudh, procurement will begin from Kantamal block on November 26. All the 42 primary agriculture cooperative societies and 10 paddy procurement centres will open from December 1. Procurement will continue till April next year.The district has 11 millers and of them, nine have expressed interest in participating in the procurement process. It has been targeted to procure 1,04,852 tonne of paddy which will be milled to produce 71,300 tonne of rice.