ROURKELA: Kharif paddy procurement in tribal-dominated Sundargarh district has been wrapped up with around 3,500 registered farmers left out due to lapse of tokens. In the kharif marketing season 2022, around 22.48 lakh quintal of paddy was procured from the district. The procurement was to end by March 31. But the process was stopped by March 25, the last date of arrival of crops at mandis.
In-charge civil supplies officer (CSO) Bijay Barik said this season, around 22.48 lakh quintal paddy was procured from 44,183 registered farmers with a total payment of Rs 436.11 crore. He claimed that tokens of 3,500 registered farmers lapsed as they either did not have surplus stock or turn up at mandis on the scheduled date.
Sources said compared to the last two years, the number of farmers left out of the procurement process due to token lapse has come down this time. In 2021, tokens of around 9,000 farmers had lapsed while the number was 6,480 in 2020.
As per the current system, registered farmers are issued tokens with one-month validity within which they have to sell their paddy. Farmer Prakash Patel of Sadar block alleged that he failed to sell 75 quintal paddy after his token lapsed due to the faulty procurement system. Procurement started in Sundargarh on December 15 last year and tokens were issued simultaneously.
However, it took more than a fortnight for all 135 mandis to become functional. Due to the delay, procurement backlogs started piling up and the mandis were not able to purchase adequate stock in absence of enough vehicles for lifting paddy, he claimed.
Sundargarh MLA Kusum Tete said with mandis facing storage problems on a daily basis, farmers were made to wait till arrival of vehicles. Due to the delay, tokens of many farmers lapsed. In some cases, farmers reached procurement centres with their stock on the scheduled date, but their paddy was not purchased as mandis had exhausted their daily targets, she added.
Farm figures
22.48 lakh quintal paddy procured from Sundargarh
Paddy purchased from 44,183 registered farmers
Total of `436.11 crore paid to farmers
In 2021, tokens of 9,000 farmers had lapsed
Tokens of 6,480 farmers had lapsed in 2020