Odisha govt. eyeing heavy paddy procurement to enhance rural economy

The Dollar Business Bureau

The expected paddy crop during year’s Kharif season in Odisha may prove to be very beneficial for the farmers as the state government will be getting a record quantity of the produce from the peasants with a vision to enhance the rural economy.  

The crops will be procured from 10 districts of the state namely Cuttack, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Balasore, Jagatsinghpur, Mayurbhunj, Bhadrak, Khurda, Puri and Nayagarh with the State Food and Civil supplies Minister Sanjay Dasburma in the process of reviewing arrangements for the same. According to him, the government will be fetching paddy worth Rs 7,500 crore and the entire procedures of paddy procurement will be carried out through primary agricultural cooperative societies (PACS).

The minister also noted that around of the 25 per cent of procurement will come from over three lakh registered farmers of these ten districts located in the central division. The sale proceeds for the same will transferred to their online accounts.

It was also informed by the Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Secretary P K Mohapatra that the crops will be procured at the rate of 18 quintals per acre from irrigated land and 12 quintals per acre from non-irrigated land.

The government has decided to keep the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 1510 per quintal of Grade-A paddy and Rs 1470 per quintal for fair average quality (FAQ) variety.