Gop: More than 5,000 farmers of Gop block are facing problems in selling their paddy as the state government has failed to open procurement centres (mandis) in the locality.
As a result, some farmers of the block have already opted for distress sale of paddy in the absence of government mandis. It is learnt that a few farmers have started selling their paddy to traders from Andhra Pradesh at a meager price of `1,000 per quintal.
Contrary to this, the state government had announced a minimum support price (MSP) of `1,550 per quintal of paddy. It had also directed the officials concerned to take action against traders collecting paddy from farmers at lower prices.
According to sources, farmers had cultivated paddy on at least 20,000 hectares in the just concluded Kharif season. As many as 5,445 farmers have registered their names with 24 agricultural cooperative societies to sell their paddy at government mandis.
Earlier, Puri district administration had announced that it would open 143 mandis to procure paddy from farmers who have registered themselves with the agricultural cooperative societies. The paddy procurement was supposed to commence from December 5 last year. However, the administration is yet to open a single mandi in Gop block.
“Most of the farmers in Gop area have already harvested their paddy. They are eagerly waiting to sell their produce at mandis. But, these poor farmers have opted for distress sale owing to the callous approach of the government officials,” said a social activist.
Cooperative department extension officer Dibakar Nayak, however, said they are yet to receive any order from the departmental higher-ups to open mandis and start paddy procurement in Gop block. “We will start procuring paddy from the locality after receiving an order in this regard,” he added.
PNN