BHUBANESWAR: As Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi will disburse additional input assistance of Rs 800 over and above the minimum support price of Rs 2,300 per quintal of paddy from Sohela in Bargarh district on December 8, all farmers will get the input assistance in one go.
Farmers who sell their paddy at the designated mandis (paddy purchase centres) will be paid only MSP price of Rs 2,300 till December 8. This was decided at the inter-ministerial committee meeting on paddy procurement chaired by deputy chief minister KV Singh Deo on Sunday.
Earlier, the state government had announced to start paddy procurement of the kharif marketing season (KMS) 2024-25 from Bargarh on November 20 and Sambalpur from November 22. The procurement date for Nuapada has not been decided.
With only two days left for commencement of paddy procurement for the current KMS, the inter-ministerial committee took a review of the preparedness at the government and district-level. Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare (FS&CW) and Cooperation departments informed the committee that preparations have reached the final stage.
“Automatic grain analyser will be used for grain quality testing. These machines have already been provided for installation in 200 large PPCs with a paddy collection capacity of more than 4,000 tonne. Moisture testing machine has also been arranged along with it,” said Singh Deo who also holds the portfolios of Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment and Power.
A grievance redressal mechanism has been put in place to address the problems of farmers who have registered to sell paddy under the price support system. A call centre will operate in the office of the Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation (OSCSC), the authorised agency of the state government for paddy procurement, where 30 people will work in two shifts. The call centre will operate till paddy procurement ends in March 31.
Similarly, each district will have a control room for convenience of farmers. Nodal officers and supervisors have been appointed at mandis to ensure that the entire process of paddy procurement is done in a transparent manner, Singh Deo added.
Meanwhile, the OSCSC has given procurement target to primary agriculture cooperative societies and milling target to rice millers based on their eligibility and capacity.