BHUBANESWAR: The state government has decided to procure rabi paddy from three more districts of Bhadrak, Kandhamal and Sundargarh under minimum support price (MSP) in the 2024-25 marketing season taking the total districts to 20.
The decision of the Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare department came a fortnight after completion of farmers’ registration for sale of surplus paddy to state government agencies under price support system.
Earlier, the government had decided to procure rabi paddy from 17 districts comprising Balasore, Bargarh, Boudh, Balangir, Cuttack, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi, Khurda, Koraput, Mayurbhanj, Nabarangpur, Nuapada, Puri, Rayagada, Sambalpur and Sonepur. The last date for mandatory registration for these districts was March 31.
As the three districts are late entrants in the procurement system, the FS&CW department has asked the district collectors concerned to complete the farmers’ registration in campaign mode within a week.
“A special campaign needs to be undertaken by the participating societies, and the field functionaries of Cooperation department shall monitor the activities especially the process of registration of farmers willing to sell their paddy. Farmers’ registration shall be completed within a week,” said an official communication from the department to the three district collectors.
The other activities that are required to be taken are installation of paddy procurement automation (P-PAS) software in primary agriculture cooperative societies (PACS) and identification of mandis. Selection of eligible millers and their tagging with the procuring societies should be completed immediately. The district administrations have been asked to prepare an action plan for rabi procurement within three days.
As the procurement is scheduled to start from May 1, it will be a herculean task to complete the process as there is very little time in hand, said an official of Kandhamal district where milling capacity is very insignificant. For selection of custom millers in procurement process, the district collectors have been asked to take instructions from the managing director of Odisha Civil Supplies Corporation. The state government has set a target to procure 14 lakh tonne paddy in the rabi season. It has already procured 73.8 lakh tonne of kharif paddy against a target of 77 lakh tonne.