Chhattisgarh procures 4.4 million tonnes of paddy

Chhattisgarh government has procured 4.4 million tonnes of paddy in the kharif marketing season 2009-10. The state government had set a procurement target of 4 million tonnes this year. In the last kharif marketing season 2008-09, the state had procured 3.7 million tonnes of paddy.

The state government surpassed the target it had set and procured 4.4 million tonnes of paddy at the minimum support price (MSP) in the state, Parliamentary Secretary with the department of agriculture Siyaram Sahu informed in the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly (CLA).

The procurement of paddy for the kharif marketing season 2009-10 started on October 12 and continued till the first week of February this year. The state marketing federation has set up 1,577 procurement centres across the state.

With the bonus announced by the Centre and the state government, farmers in Chhattisgarh received Rs 1,050 for a quintal of common variety of paddy and Rs 1,080 for grade-A paddy as MSP.

The members in the House, however, expressed surprise over the heavy paddy output stating that how the production increased when severe drought hit the state this year.

The state government had declared 50 tehsils in the state as drought while last year, only 33 tehsils were declared as dry, Devji Patel, member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), grilled the government on the issue.

The government should explain how the paddy output increased by about 6,00,000 metric tonnes as compared to last year when more tehsils were declared as drought-hit, he said, adding that it appeared that instead of farmers, government had procured paddy from the traders at MSP.

Sahu clarified that farmers preferred to sell paddy in the government societies this year instead of mandis.