BHUBANESWAR: The State government on Friday set a procurement target of 71 lakh tonne of paddy for the 2022-23 Kharif Marketing Season (KMS). The food and procurement policy of the government was approved by the State cabinet presided over by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here. Chief Secretary Suresh Kumar Mahapatra said the procurement target will be 48 lakh tonne in terms of rice. He said the target for procurement of paddy will be 57 lakh tonne for kharif and 14 lakh tonne for rabi. The KMS 2022-23 will commence from October 1, 2022 and conclude on September 30, 2023.
The Chief Secretary said there is no bar for procurement of any higher quantum if more paddy comes to the mandies from registered farmers. He said Minister for Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare has been authorised to revise the target if the need arises. Paddy (kharif) will be procured from November 2022 to March 2023 and paddy (rabi) from May to June, 2023.
Districts will schedule their procurement periods within these broad timelines. Paddy will be procured from farmers who are registered on online portal of Food Supply and Consumer Welfare department. Aadhaar will be only identification proof for a registered farmer to sell paddy to the government. The sale of paddy is subject to Aadhaar-based biometric identification.
The Chief Secretary said 100 per cent field verification and validation of paddy growing areas through satellite imagery are being adopted to verify land details in paddy growing areas. The authenticity of land details will be verified in terms of modalities to be prescribed by the department.
All registered and eligible farmers will be intimated in advance by SMS to their mobile phones regarding date of sale of paddy and quantity to be sold. Small and marginal farmers will be accorded priority for sale of paddy to the government, he added.
There will be no imposition on farmers to keep aside a certain portion of their produce for personal consumption by their families, he said and added that a registered farmer can sell his entire surplus, as per approved yield rate, to the government. This will facilitate entry of more small and marginal farmers into the procurement fold.