The state government has decided to enhance the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of paddy from Rs 2,040 to Rs 2,183 per quintal to safeguard the interest of small and marginal farmers. The state Food and Supplies department will also provide an incentive of Rs 20 per quintal over and above the MSP to the farmers who will be selling their paddy in centralised procurement centres (CPCs), mobile CPCs and DPCs. Hence, the farmer selling paddy at CPCs, mobile CPCs and DPCs will receive Rs 2,203 per quintal.
The department has constituted a three-member committee in each block that the farmers can approach in case of any dispute regarding the quality of paddy or the latter may call toll-free numbers 18003455505 and 1967.
The department has also simplified the procurement process to add momentum to procurement. The state has been procuring a maximum of 45 quintals of paddy from each farmer, which has been doubled to 90 quintals.
The department’s procurement target is 60 lakh metric tonne. The state, till date, has managed to procure 50 lakh metric tonne.
The procurement process that started in November last year is expected to continue till the beginning of September.
Registered farmers may schedule a slot for selling paddy at any purchase centre of their choice by visiting the portal of the Food department. They can sell their paddy on their booked dates through biometric authentication (fingerprint scanning) or OTP to Aadhaar-linked mobile or OTP to registered mobile numbers. Till date, biometric authentication was mandatory for selling.
The department will keep a special vigil to ensure that transparency is followed during the procurement process. Strong directions have been issued to ensure that paddy is procured from genuine farmers. Procurement will be done through camps run by Self-Help Groups, farmer producer companies (FPO), primary agricultural credit societies (PACS) etc.
Presently, procurement is being done through 500 CPCs and more than 1,000 camps and 50 mobile CPCs in different remote locations of all paddy procurement blocks.