Chhattisgarh's festival of paddy purchase on support price starts from December 1, with 21,29,764 farmers registered to this year. The area under which paddy is sown is more than 27 lakh hectares.
Due to the farmer-friendly policies of the Chhattisgarh government, both the area under farming and number of farmers have increased during the two years, am official communication said on Sunday.
In two years, the area under paddy has increased from 19.36 lakh hectare to 22.68 lakh hectare and the number of farmers has risen from 12,06,000 to 18,38,000.
In this way, there is an increase of 3.32 lakh hectares in area and 6.32 lakh in the number of farmers. This year, the number of farmers registering for selling paddy has crossed 21.29 lakh and the area of paddy registration has crossed 27.59 lakh hectare.
In 2017-18, 56.85 lakh tonnes of paddy was purchased in the state at the support price. During two years, this figure of paddy procurement has reached 83.94 lakh metric tonnes. Considering the number of farmers registered to sell paddy this year and the area under paddy, the support price is estimated to be higher than last year.
Despite the lack of gunny bags to procure paddy, the government is engaged in its management. All arrangements are being made for the convenience of the farmers, the statement said.
The Chhattisgarh government bought 80.38 lakh tonnes of paddy from 15.71 lakh farmers in 2018-19. In 2019-20, a record 83.94 lakh tonnes of paddy was purchased from 18.38 lakh farmers.
In 2017-18, 76.47 percent farmers sold paddy. In marketing year 2019-20, 94.02 percent farmers in the state sold paddy at the support price.
Chhattisgarh launched the Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojana from May 21, 2020 to provide the farmers their right and fair price for their produce. Under this scheme 19 lakh farmers are being given in four installments an amount of Rs 5,750 crores.