Uttar Pradesh govt to acquire paddy worth Rs 16,000 cr this kharif season

The Uttar Pradesh (UP) government is targeting to procure 7 million tonnes (mt) of paddy worth Rs 16,000 crore under the minimum support price (MSP) mechanism during the 2024-25 kharif marketing season.

For the current season, the MSP of common and grade-A paddy is fixed at Rs 2,300 and Rs 2,320 per quintal, respectively, which is higher than last year’s Rs 2,183 and Rs 2,203 per quintal.

The procurement is scheduled to commence from October 1 and continue till February 28, 2025, starting from Western UP and gradually covering the eastern part.

During the 2023-24 kharif marketing season, the state could procure 5.2 mt of paddy, which was about 75 per cent of the targeted procurement of 7 mt.

Since the open market prices of paddy have been higher in recent years, the state’s farmers have more choices to supply their produce.

This year, the government is aiming to meet the procurement target by providing farmers with better facilities at the procurement centres.

Paddy farmers in the state are required to register online to supply the cash crop at the procurement centres.

During the procurement process, the Yogi Adityanath government is prioritising small farmers whose harvest is less than 60 quintal, so that they do not resort to distress sale or face impediments at the designated purchase centres.

The government is also facilitating prompt payments against procurement to keep the farmers community in good humour and nurture a robust political economy.

The institutional procurement of paddy, wheat, and sugarcane provides much needed leeway to UP’s rural sector with an annual composite direct economy of more than Rs 50,000 crore.

Last year, about 4,000 paddy procurement centres were set up in the state, of which 200 centres were operated by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) even as the bulk of the procurement was facilitated by the state government agencies.

Moreover, the paddy procurement centres, rice mills and FCI warehouses/depots were geo-tagged by the remote sensing application centre for transparency.

The state is also promoting cultivation of crops other than cereals, such as pulses, oilseeds, and nutri-cereals or ‘shree anna’ by offering a remunerative MSP.