The paddy procurement by Chhattisgarh Government through procurement centres of different cooperative societies has reached nearly 63 lakh tonnes in the last three months, said an official statement issued here on Thursday.
Farmers have been provided minimum support price for their paddy and they have been so far paid Rs 8,339 crore, only about Rs 1,270 rupees more than what they were paid in the corresponding period last year. The State Government has set a target to procure more than 72 lakh tonnes of paddy under minimum support price scheme for 2013-14 Kharif season.
The paddy procurement started in the State on October 21 as per the direction of the Government led by Chief Minister Raman Singh. The procurement campaign will continue until February 15. Officials of the Chhatttisgarh State Cooperative Marketing Federation (MARKFED) headquarters at Raipur said last year the paddy procurement started in the State on November 1.
In three months the quantity of paddy procured last year was about 56 lakh three thousand tonnes. The farmers had been paid about Rs 7,060 crore, they said. The quantity of paddy procured in the current season so far includes were Bastar-65137 tonne, Bijapur-17,400 tonnes, South Bastar-6181 tonne, and North Bastar-179463 tonne.