Higher MSP fosters surge in paddy arrivals in Chhattisgarh's centres

Over 700,000 tonnes of the crop arrived in a week. State has till date disbursed Rs 7,000 cr to farmers, who will be paid Rs 1,815 a quintal for common grade and Rs 1,835 for A-grade produce

There has been a spurt in paddy arrivals at Chhattisgarh's procurement centres, which have been set up for purchasing the crop at the minimum support price (MSP) announced by the state. Procurement had started on December 1.

Chhattisgarh Marketing Federation, the nodal agency for purchasing paddy from farmers, had set up over 2,000 procurement centres under the primary cooperative societies.

Officials said over 700,000 tonnes of the crop had arrived in the centres. The state government has till date disbursed Rs 7,000 crore to farmers, who will be paid Rs 1,815 a quintal for common grade and Rs 1,835 for A-grade produce.

Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel had declared that farmers would get Rs 2,500 a quintal and the difference between the Centre's price and the MSP would be paid under another head. The state government had set up an inter-ministerial committee to examine under which scheme farmers would be paid the difference.

Baghel had urged the Centre to increase the quota of rice purchase from the state to 3.2 million tonnes (MT). Last year, Centre had procured 2.4 MT from Chhattisgarh.

The state had set a target to procure 8.5 MT in the current season. In the kharif marketing season 2018-19, it had purchased 8.04 million tonnes of paddy and disbursed Rs 16,933.06 crore to farmers.

Since the state government had committed a higher price for the yield, paddy arrivals from the neighbouring states were not ruled out. The authorities were keeping a close vigil on the borders.