ROURKELA : Ragi procurement in Sundargarh district, the state’s top millet producer, has hit a roadblock reportedly due to conflicting guidelines set by the Tribal Development Cooperative Corporation of Odisha Ltd (TDCCOL) and the lack of access to dehulling machines by farmers.
While the target for the Kharif marketing season 2023-24 was set at 66,000 quintal, only 244 quintal have been procured so far. The procurement was supposed to begin on January 1 with 72 Mandis opening in 15 blocks, but internal issues within TDCCOL, including the sudden transfer of the Sundargarh branch manager, led to delays.
Sources in the Odisha Millet Mission (OMM) informed so far about 244 quintal of the target of 66,000 quintal could be procured. Moreover, due to transportation issue the procured Ragi consignment has not yet been lifted from the FCI go-down by the government.
The main hurdle now is the TDCCOL’s insistence on procuring only polished Ragi, which requires dehulling machines not readily available to most farmers. Farmers would also have to bear an additional cost of ` 500-800 per quintal for polishing.
Sundargarh chief district agriculture officer (CDAO) and district head of OMM Harihar Nayak said Ragi procurement is not progressing with the TDCCOL guidelines insisting on strict adherence to Fair Average Quality (FAC) including proper drying and polishing of Ragi with removal of the fibrous outer husk layers.
Although the top TDCCOL authorities have reportedly agreed to relax the norm for polished Ragi, the local authorities are yet to comply, he added.
It is learnt, the local authorities of TDCCOL are not willing to take risk of relaxing the norm in absence of any written instruction from the TDCCOL managing director Poma Tudu.
Meanwhile, project administrator (PA) to Sundargarh Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) and TDCCOL branch manager Dhirendra Sethi said it has been decided to expedite the procurement as per the FAQ guidelines of the TDCCOL, adding with extra efforts farmers would be further educated on FAQ requirements.
With 16,762 registered farmers waiting to sell their crop at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of `3,846 per quintal, the limited availability of dehulling machines and the extra cost involved are adding to their woes.