KOCHI: The Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation (Supplyco) which began paddy procurement from farmers for the current season, has procured as many as 18,000 tonnes of paddy from the farmers so far, according to Supplyco chairman and managing director A P M Mohammed Hanish. The mechanism to provide the price for the procured paddy through various banks has been put in place.
The Supplyco has launched regional centres at Mankombu in Alappuzha, Kottayam, Palakkad, Perumbavoor in Ernakulam, Thrissur and Kozhikode to coordinate the paddy procurement process. The new centre proposed for Thiruvananthapuram will become operational soon, he said. As many as 13 officers from the Agriculture Department have been deputed to coordinate the paddy procurement process. Around 45 millers have been assigned to procure the paddy from farmers and provisions were made to allot paddy clusters to each millers based on the online registration of farmers.
Unlike last year, Supplyco has effected an increase of 80 paise in the procurement price for one kg of paddy in the current season, against the ` 22.50 per kg last year. Of the total `23.30 paid for a kg of paddy in the current season, `7.80 is the state incentive bonus and remaining `15.50 is the Centre’s Minimum Statutory Price, Hanish said.
Steps have also been initiated to disburse the money for the procured paddy to farmers through various banks. An agreement will be signed with the SBI on Tuesday, he said.The farmers will get the money from different banks on production of the Paddy Receipt Sheet (PRS) issued by the millers who procured the paddy. Once the PRS is submitted to the banks concerned, the bank will issue an eligibility certificate and the farmer has to produce both the PRS and eligibility certificate at the office of paddy payment office which will issue the payment order to the bank.