UP to enhance direct purchase
of paddy
Saturday, 13 July 2019
With the objective of enhancing
farmers’ income, the Yogi Adityanath government is likely to enhance the direct
purchase of paddy from farmers during the current season beginning from October
1.
The Centre had earlier this month
marginally hiked the minimum support price (MSP) for paddy by Rs 65 per quintal
to Rs 1,815 per quintal for the 2019-20 crop year, while rates for oilseeds,
pulses and other cereals were raised substantially.
Official sources said the Food
and Civil Supplies department had been directed to use technology for providing
all facilities to the farmers for seamless procurement of paddy from them
during the next season and also the payments to them.The department has been
asked to make all the required arrangements for the paddy procurement before
the commencement of the season. The Food and Civil Supplies department has
prepared the schedule for the paddy procurement. The state government agencies
every year set up over 3,000 paddy procurement centers.
Sources in the Food and Civil
Supplies department said that arrangements were being made for the required
number of jute bags, staff and funds for the purchase of paddy at the
procurement centres.
The government has specifically
asked the department to ensure that middlemen are not involved in paddy
procurement and the commodity is directly purchased from the farmers by the
official agencies.
The department is also working on
finalising the list of the rice mills where the paddy will be dispatched for
milling.The official agencies to be involved in paddy procurement are Food and
Civil Supplies department, Food Corporation of India, UP Cooperative
Federation, regional food controllers, Registrar Cooperative Societies, UP Agro
Industrial Corporation, UP Food and Essential Commodities Corporation, UP
Cooperative Union and NAFED.
During the last paddy procurement
season (2017-18), the UP government had procured a little over 50 lakh metric
tons of paddy directly from the farmers without involving the middleman. The
government had paid special attention on payment to the farmers and the payment
was made directly in their accounts by RTGS (real time gross settlement).
Source: https://www.dailypioneer.com/