Berhampur: Paddy procurement in Ganjam district is set to begin December 25, district collector Premchandra Chaudhary confirmed in a meeting at Chhatrapur Saturday.
To ensure smooth paddy procurement, Chaudhary directed officials concerned to be alert and ensure necessary help to the farmers.
Despite drought-like situation and incessant rain due to low pressure, a target to procure 2.74 lakh metric tonnes of paddy from the district has been set by the state government. Out of which 2.34 lakh metric tonnes of paddy will be bought by the State Supply Nigam while the remaining 40,000 metric tonnes of paddy will be bought by Odisha State Co-operative Marketing Federation Ltd (MARKFED).
The administration hopes to produce 1.84 metric tonnes of rice following procurement of paddy this Kharif season. The State supply Nigam will produce 1.57 lakh metric tonnes of rice and MARKFED will produce 27,000 metric tonnes.
The paddy will be bought from registered farmers through Primary Agriculture Co-operative Society (PACS). If necessary, target may be increased and paddy can be bought from unregistered farmers and sharecroppers as well, collector Chaudhary said.
Chaudhary said that the price of FAQ standard paddy has been fixed at Rs 1,550 per quintal and FAQ-grade A at Rs 1,590 a quintal.
In the current year (2017-18), as many as 91, 830 farmers have been registered online for selling their paddy. Among them, 15,085 are newly registered farmers, while the remaining 76,771 have renewed their registration.
On the other hand, many farmers failed to register themselves as the Cooperative Society secretary’s and have been staging an agitation from October 30, 2017.
Keeping the problems faced by the unregistered farmers in mind, the collector directed the VLW and RIs to collect application forms from such farmers and help them in the registration process.
The collector also directed the officials to pay the dues of the farmers within 3-4 days. He further directed them to spread awareness among the famers regarding the procurement process.
The collector asked the officials to ensure the farmers did not face any problem in transportation of paddy to the site. To check distress sale, a committee was formed to monitor the paddy purchase. PNN
