The paddy procurement have yet to start in as many as 224 procurement centres under the Jagdalpur division, though, officially it commenced in Chhattisgarh on Oct 21, sources said on Monday.
The Government opened 243 centres in the division area but paddy procurement was underway only in 25 centres, while employees were waiting desperately for the farmers in at least three districts, sources said.
The regions where there was almost no procurement include 36 centres in Bijapur, Dantewada and Sukma. There were also no procurements in many centres located in Kanker, Kondagaon and Bastar.
According to information available with cooperative bank, the quantity of paddy procured so far in the division area was about 430 quintals including 48 quintals of short grain and about 382 quintals of bold grains.
The officials were desperately waiting for paddy, while farmers said the paddy crops had not yet been matured. They said the Government started the procurement process much earlier.
Only five to ten per cent paddy crop have been matured so far in the division as a result the procurement was facing delay, the sources said.