Chhattisgarh crosses paddy procurement target at MSP for kharif season

Chhattisgarh has surpassed the target set for paddy procurement at the minimum support price (MSP) for the kharif marketing season 2023-24.

Against the target of 13 million tonnes (mt), the state has so far procured over 14.4 mt of paddy from farmers. Interestingly, the target was achieved two days before the deadline, which ended on January 31.

The paddy procurement started on November 1 when the Congress was in power. According to the calendar, the paddy procurement process was scheduled to conclude on January 31. Meanwhile, the state saw a Bharatiya Janata Party government led by Vishnu Deo Sai that accelerated the process.

As on December 10, about 40 days after the procurement started, only 3.1 mt of paddy reached the societies set up for procurement.

The spokesperson of the state-run Chhattisgarh Marketing Federation (Markfed), the nodal agency for paddy procurement, said over 14.22 mt of paddy had been purchased at MSP from 2.45 million farmers till January 31. In lieu of paddy procurement, an amount of more than Rs 30,068 crore has been paid to farmers through the bank.

The chief minister had extended the deadline till February 4. “The extension was necessitated as a large number of farmers could not sell the produce within the stipulated time,” the federation officials said.

The spur in the paddy arrival at the centres came only after December 21 when the state issued the notification to purchase paddy at a price of Rs 3,100 per quintal. Before the Assembly elections, the BJP had announced the higher price under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Guarantee for Chhattisgarh. Besides, it increased the procurement cap to 21 quintals per acre that the previous Congress government had curtailed to 15 quintals per acre.

To address the issue of storage, the federation is focusing on the continuous lifting of paddy for custom milling. Till now, delivery orders have been issued for lifting 10.4 mt of paddy, against which 9.6 mt has been lifted by the millers.