With the paddy procurement season having ended on September 30, State Government agencies have already paid around Rs 6,000 crore to farmers for procuring 54, 17,029 tonnes of paddy. This is the highest-ever collection of paddy achieved in a Kharif marketing season (KMS).
Minister of Food, Supplies and Consumer Welfare Pratap Kesari Deb recently reviewed the procurement of paddy and delivery of rice for the KMS 2012-13 with departmental Secretary Madhu Sudan Padhi presenting a report.
With a bumper crop in the State during the season, the Government was able to procure more than 11.27 lakh tonnes of paddy during 2012-13, revealed the review.
Agencies including the Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation (OSCSC), the Odisha State Cooperative Marketing Federation (MARKFED), the National Agriculture Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED), the Tribal Development Cooperation Corporation (TDCC) and the Food Corporation of India (FCI) were engaged in paddy procurement.
According to official sources, the OSCSC procured 50,02,311 tonnes of paddy and delivered 22,64,593 tonnes of rice. This is highest-ever achievement of the corporation.
The MARKFED procured 2,58,732 tonnes of paddy and delivered 1,59,782 tonnes of rice, while the TDCC procured 46,843 tonnes of paddy and delivered 30,176 tonnes of rice. The NAFED collected 36,684 tonnes of paddy and delivered 21,298 tonnes of rice while the FCI collected only 5,600 tonnes of paddy and delivered 3797 tonnes of rice.
levy paddy was collected to the tune of 34,098 tonnes and the quantity of rice delivered was 27,426 tonnes. Though the procurement season has ended, delivery of rice would continue for quite some time, said official sources.