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The Chhattisgarh government has procured over 50 per cent of paddy at minimum support price (MSP) for the kharif marketing season 2023-24 with a month left to complete procurement.
The state is looking to purchase 13 million tonnes (mt) of paddy in the current season. The procurement, which started on November 1, 2023, will be completed by January 31 this year.
“As of Monday, 6.67 Mt of paddy has been purchased,” a state government spokesperson said. Over 1.3 million farmers have sold paddy across 2,739 procurement centres, the spokesperson said, adding that the farmers have been paid Rs 15, 213 crore against the purchase.
The BJP government has increased the cap and is procuring 21 quintal/acre of paddy from farmers. In the last season, the Congress government had procured 15 quintal/acre and promised to increase it to 20 quintal/acre if it came back to power in the state.
The officials said an order was issued to enable farmers who sold paddy earlier to get the benefit of selling 21 quintals of paddy per acre. “The farmers who have sold the predetermined quantity of paddy from November 1 will be able to sell the remaining quantity in the paddy procurement centre till January 31,” the officials said.
In the kharif marketing year 2022-23, along with the support price of 15 quintals/acre, farmers were given Rs 2,040 per quintal, with which they were given an input subsidy of Rs 9,000 per acre. The maximum payment has been Rs 39,600. “This year, since 21 quintals will be purchased at the rate of Rs 3,100 per quintal (as promised by the BJP before the elections), farmers will get Rs 65,100 by selling 21 quintals of paddy per acre,” the officials said.
The farmers will get an additional profit of Rs 25,500 on the sale of paddy in the current season as compared to last year.
First Published: Jan 04 2024 | 6:01 PM IST
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