Bharatiya Janata Party’s promise made during the Assembly elections to procure 21 quintals of paddy per acre is likely to benefit large number of farmers in the Durg district and the district administration here may procure 25,000 Metric Tonne (MT) of paddy additionally. So far, 1.04 lakh MT paddy has been procured in the Durg district and if the government changes the paddy procurement policy as per its poll promise, several lakhs MT of paddy will be procured additionally in the entire State from the farmers who are registered to sell their crop on Minimum Support Price. Food Controller CP Deepankar talking to ‘The Hitavada’ said that they will initiate measures to procure 21 quintals of paddy per acre from the farmers even from those who have already sold their produce only after receiving government’s directives in this regard.

 

Notably, the current software being used allows procurement of 20 quintals paddy every acre and it will need to be updated to 21 quintals per acre if the promise is fulfilled. It is noteworthy to mention that through 102 paddy procurement centers in the Durg district, the authorities have so far procured 1.04 lakh MT of paddy worth Rs 227.67 crore from 22,826 registered farmers. The farmers have even been made payment of Rs 223.12 crore while only 24,165 MT of paddy has been lifted from the centers. Meanwhile the buffer limit has been crossed in 9 centers and additional arrangements were being made in these centers to continue the paddy procurement process smoothly. Owing to the rains, the paddy procurement process has been hampered and it is likely to resume shortly once the weather gets clear.

 

Due to the rains, in the past two to three days, only 480 quintals of paddy has been procured in three procurement centers of the Durg district. Food Controller Deepankar said that the paddy procurement on MSP is going smoothly in the district and it has been hampered due to rains since past couple of days. He said that 1.04 lakh MT of paddy worth crores of rupees has so far been procured in the Durg district till date.