ROURKELA: Even as paddy procurement is scheduled to begin in the tribal-dominated Sundargarh district from December 15, only 15 to 20 per cent of the farmers would be able to get Minimum Support Price (MSP) for the crop. Blame it on the farmers' ignorance or administrations' negligence and apathy, sources said that only 33,200 farmers had registered themselves for selling paddy in the vast district, having a population of about 21.5 lakh.
In the absence of authentic data with the district administration about the number of farmer families, the Agriculture department plans strategies for about 2.19 lakh farming families, relying on assumptions.
Source said the online registration of farmers for paddy procurement is moving at a snail’s pace, touching the 33,200 mark in the past couple of years. Last year, the figure was 27,000. Blame it on lack of coordination among Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare (FSCW), Cooperation, Revenue and Agriculture departments for the poor show, sources alleged.
Administrative sources claimed registration of farmers had been decreasing at 44 Large Area Multipurpose Cooperative Societies (LAMPSs), two Regional Cooperative Marketing Societies and one Multipurpose Cooperative Society, covering 279 Gram Panchayats (GPs).
Each LAMP covers two to seven GPs in the district. Registration of farmers is mandatory as the farmer is required to provide land record for integration with Bhulekh data, bank account and identity proof. The registration is done online.
The information of the farmers is sent to the Civil Supplies Officer (CSO) of the FS&CW department. For verification of land record, the same is sent to respective Revenue Inspector. For registration, a share-cropper has to obtain proof from landowner or local Sarpanch certifying his involvement in cultivation on other’s land.Thus, multiple factors are responsible for the low registration of farmers, including lack of awareness among farmers, the distance from respective LAMPS. Sometimes, farmers return empty-handed on not finding concerned employees or due to internet disruption, sources added. Moreover, neither the CSO nor the officials of Cooperation, Revenue and Agriculture departments are concerned about enhancement of farmers’ registration, sources said.
Sundargarh Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies (DRCS) Jerome Kerketta said they are consistently trying to push farmers’ registration and multiple awareness campaigns had been held for the same.
Admitting to poor registration of farmers, the DRCS said it is also a fact that small and marginal farmers who do not have surplus paddy for sale avoid registration.Contradicting the administration's version, Bonai Krishak Sangh president Dambrudhar Kishan said it was the failure of the district administration that needy farmers were not getting registered and selling their paddy crops at lower prices.