Chhattisgarh govt grapples to achieve its paddy procurement target
By R Krishan Das
Chhattisgarh faces a big challenge to achieve the paddy procurement target set for the kharif season 2024-25 even as a fortnight is left for the purchase process to end.
Paddy procurement at the minimum support price (MSP) in Chhattisgarh started on November 14, 2024, and will conclude on January 31, 2025.
The state government has set up 2,058 cooperative societies and 2,739 paddy procurement centres where farmers can sell their yield.
The government had set a target of procuring 16 million tonnes (MT) of paddy from farmers during the current season.
Even as 15 days are left, as procurement is closed on holidays, including Saturdays and Sundays, the state is struggling to achieve the target.
“As of now, 11.7 MT of paddy has been procured in the state while over 2.2 million farmers (of the 2.7 million registered) have sold their yield,” a state government spokesperson said.
Over ~25,000 crore has been paid to farmers against the procurement, the spokesperson added.
According to agriculture experts, it will be a big task ahead for the state government to achieve the target this year. “Over 4 MT of paddy is yet to be procured while only 15 days are now left,” one of them said.
Besides, most farmers from the registered list have sold their produce and the possibility of a rush in arrivals during the remaining period is bleak, he added.
A senior official in the agriculture department said the matter was discussed at a review meeting.
“Based on the inputs, the officials anticipated that the figure could reach a little over 15 MT,” the official added. Kamlesh Sahu, a small farmer on the outskirts of the Chhattisgarh capital, said, “flaws in the procurement process” could be one of the reasons for the delay.
The small and marginal farmers were eligible for a maximum of 2 tokens and large farmers were eligible for 3 tokens through which they could sell paddy.
The issuing of tokens has been stopped and a number of farmers are yet to sell their produce, Sahu said. He added that the harvest was also damaged at many places due to insect attacks, which affected production.
This article was been republished from The Business Standard.