Govt to sell ragi through PDS

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Bhubaneswar: The state government has decided to distribute one kg of ragi at Re 1 to every ration card holder through Public Distribution System (PDS) in an attempt to increase consumption of nutritious foods.
This has been decided at a high-level meeting of Odisha Millets Mission held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi at the Secretariat here Monday.
It was decided to distribute ragi in seven districts – Gajapati, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nuapada and Rayagada – on pilot basis from July.
The ration card holders in Malkangiri district will be supplied two kg of ragi while one kg will be supplied to each PDS card holders in the remaining six districts.
Padhi directed the officials concerned to promote consumption of ragi in urban pockets in collaboration with bakeries, biscuit manufacturers, sweet stalls and mega retail counters.
Agriculture Secretary Sourav Garg said around 17,500 quintals of ragi would be distributed to the card holders. The future programme will depend on the acceptability of the people and impact of the pilot project, he said.
During the meeting, it was also decided to procure one lakh quintals of ragi from the farmers in coming Khariff season at a minimum support price of `2,897 per quintal.
The Chief Secretary said the prime objective of government intervention is to fetch good market price to the ragi farmers and to prevent any distress sale. Development Commissioner Asit Kumar Tripathy directed officials to create awareness among the card holders about availability of ragi at fair price shops.
Agriculture director Muthukumar said that 24,499 farmers were registered and verified for procurement of ragi during the last Khariff season. Out of them, 6,622 farmers sold their surplus product to Tribal Development Co-operative Corporation of Odisha Ltd (TDCC), he added.
The procurement was done through 68 societies in eight districts and 17,986 quintals of ragi were procured. The farmers got a higher price from the ragi traders because of government procurement at the MSP, Muthukumar further pointed out.