Under the guidance of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, the amount of paddy procured at support price from farmers of State is increasing consistently towards the estimated target of 110 lakh metric tonne. It will continue till January 31, 2023.

Officials of the Food Department informed that 84.66 lakh metric tonne of paddy have been procured, in lieu of which Rs 17,544 crore has been paid to more than 20 lakh farmers of State under the bank linking system till now.

It is noteworthy that, under the guidance of the Chief Minister similar to last year, the work of custom milling is also progressing smoothly this year along with paddy procurement. Till now, DO has been issued for the lifting of 71.50 lakh metric tonnes of paddy, in lieu of which 58.25 metric tonne of paddy has been lifted by the millers.

Officials informed that today i.e. on January 4, 1.37 lakh metric tonne of paddy have been purchased from 33,804 farmers in State, apart from this, nearly 16 thousand tonnes of paddy have also been purchased from the farmers through tokens obtained online. More than 5,000 tokens have been issued online through the ‘Token Tuhar Haath’ app and more than 52,000 tokens have been issued by other means for the next paddy procurement day. This year 25.92 lakh farmers have been registered in State and about 2.26 lakh are newly registered farmers. 2600 procurement centers have been set up for paddy procurement in the state. Normal paddy is being procured at the rate of Rs 2040 per quintal and grade-A paddy is being procured at Rs 2060 per quintal. A strict vigil is also being kept on the system of paddy procurement in the state. Goods carriers are being inspected at check posts to prevent illegal transportation of paddy from border states.