The State Government has set a target to procure 71 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of paddy from farmers during the 2020-21 kharif marketing season.
Arrangements would also be made for procurement if farmers would have surplus paddy in their stocks, said Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain on Monday.
Speaking to mediapersons, the Minister informed that paddy procurement is underway smoothly for the last two days and there are no irregularities. So far, 46,600 MT of paddy has been procured from Bagarh, Sambalpur and Kalahandi districts in these two days, he said.
“Tokens are being given to farmers on alphabetical basis for the procurement. There will be no issue in provision of tokens to all those farmers who have registered for it,” Swain stated.
In the 2019-20 kharif marketing season, the Government had procured 70.56 lakh tonnes of paddy from farmers.
The Government-appointed agencies like PACS, LAMPS and WSHGs procure paddy in all districts at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) declared by the Central Government.