Farmers await produce, Chhattisgarh procures 4 mt paddy at MSP

Even as a large section of farmers in Chhattisgarh are waiting for the paddy to get ready, Chhattisgarh claims to have procured 4 million tonnes (mt) of paddy by paying minimum support price (MSP) to the sellers."As on Monday, the state-run marketing federation has purchased 4 mt paddy from the farmers at MSP," a state government spokesperson said.

Of the paddy procured, maximum flow had been reported in Mahasamund district where the nodal agency for paddy procurement had purchased 422,000 tonnes of paddy.The state government, in a cost cutting measure, had put a cap on paddy procurement.

The state government had earlier decided to purchase only 10 quintals of paddy behind every acre of land. After facing strong protest within the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and farmers, Chief Minister Raman Singh extended the cap to 15 quintals per acre.