Raipur: Nearly 58 lakh metric tonnes of paddy have been procured, in lieu of which Rs 11640 crore has been paid to 14.66 lakh farmers of the state under the bank linking system. Since November 1 against the paddy procurement target, more than 50 per cent of paddy has been procured.
Due to the ease in the selling process of paddy and the better arrangement and availability of gunny bags for the lifting of paddy by the millers, paddy procurement and custom milling were done flawlessly. Till now DO has been issued for the lifting of 45 lakh metric tonnes of paddy, in lieu of which 35.77 lakh thousand metric tonnes of paddy has been lifted by the millers.
Food Department Secretary Topeshwar Verma said that this year 25.92 lakh farmers have been registered in the state and about 2.26 lakh are newly registered farmers. 2600 procurement centers have been set up for paddy procurement in the state. Normal paddy is being procured at the rate of Rs 2040 per quintal and grade-A paddy is being procured at Rs 2060 per quintal. A strict vigil is also being kept on the system of paddy procurement in the state. Goods carriers are being inspected at check posts to prevent illegal transportation of paddy from border states.
Today, as of December 19, 2 lakh metric tonnes of paddy have been purchased from 57,000 farmers in the state, apart from this, more than 55,000 tonnes of paddy has also been purchased from the farmers through tokens obtained online. 77,124 tokens and 18,269 tokens have been issued online through the Token Tuhar Haath app for paddy procurement in the near future.
