THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The distribution of procurement price for paddy collected from farmers during the current season will resume shortly, Food and Civil Supplies Minister G R Anil said on Wednesday. To facilitate this, the state government has sanctioned an additional Rs 100 crore.
The minister said that the full procurement payment for 1, 45,619.915 metric tonnes of paddy collected during the first crop of the 2024-25 season has already been credited to the farmers’ accounts. In the second crop season, 366,610.498 metric tonnes of paddy have been procured from 142,217 farmers so far. A total of Rs 212.86 crore has been disbursed to the farmers as procurement price till date.
With the distribution of the newly sanctioned Rs 100 crore, an additional Rs 152 crore is expected to be released. The minister said that this would enable the government to fully settle the payments for the paddy procured from farmers.
As part of expediting the procurement process, more officers have been deployed in major areas. The state also expects to receive Rs 1,108 crore from the Central government in connection with the paddy procurement.