JAGATSINGHPUR: There are not enough millers in Jagatsinghpur district to procure paddy from farmers and custom mill them to produce rice. This crop season, the Civil Supply department has fixed the paddy procurement target at 74, 411,76 MT but only one miller has come forward to mill the stock. The department aims at producing 50,600 MT rice from the procured paddy.
Sources said even as the procurement target has been fixed, the department has not initiated any measures to rope in more millers until now.
As many as 33,443 farmers have registered their names in the paddy procurement automation system to sell paddy in kharif marketing season. The district requires 40 millers to lift the targeted amount of paddy but there is only one miller, informed Civil Supply officials at the paddy procurement meeting held here on Friday. Although the department has sought intervention of the State Government for selection of millers for the district, nothing has been done so far.
This year, 105 paddy procurement centres will be opened and procurement would begin from December 7. Civil Supply officials said 21 millers from districts nearby Jagatsinghpur were roped in last year to procure paddy from farmers as a result of which, farmers could not sell their stock and had to resort to distress sale. Farmers are apprehensive that a similar situation will arise this year too due to non-availability of millers.
District Civil Supply Officer Dillip Kumar Patra said the department has sought intervention of the State Government towards selection of adequate number of millers in the district.