Chhattisgarh to start procuring paddy at support price from Nov 15

Raipur, Oct 10 (PTI) The procurement of paddy at support price from farmers will begin from November 15 in the ongoing kharif season in Chhattisgarh, officials said on Friday.

The decision in this regard was taken during a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai at Mantralaya Mahanadi Bhawan in Nava Raipur on Friday, a public relations department official here said.

Paddy procurement will be carried out from November 15 to January 31 during the 2025-26 kharif marketing season. Twenty-one quintals of paddy per acre will be procured from farmers at the rate of Rs 3,100 per quintal (the amount also includes input assistance provided by the state government to farmers under the Krishak Unnati Yojana, in addition to the MSP), he said.

Instructions have been given to cooperative societies to make appropriate arrangements for paddy procurement through 2,739 centres, he said.

Additionally, officials have been instructed to arrange both new and old jute bags for paddy procurement, he said.

A robust administrative structure will be in place to prevent diversion and recycling of paddy, and to ensure timely payments to farmers (within 6 to 7 days) with greater transparency, he said.

To ensure better access to farmers, an online token system has been implemented through the 'Token Tuhar Hath' (token at your hand) mobile app.

Under this system, farmers will be able to generate tokens to sell paddy on days convenient to them, he said.

To promote transparency in paddy procurement, farmer registration through e-KYC on the Agristack portal of the Union Agriculture Ministry has been made mandatory this year, ensuring farmer identification and eliminating duplication. Registration is open till October 31, he said.

Data from digital crop surveys and manual 'girdawari' (land surveys) are being shared with gram sabhas in 20,000 villages across the state since October 2, he said.

Biometric-based paddy procurement will be implemented to ensure paddy procurement from genuine farmers, he said.

For better and smoother arrangements at paddy procurement centres, decision has been taken to appoint administrative officers as procurement centre in-charges.

Instructions have been given to constitute special checking teams at the district level to prevent the illegal inflow of paddy from bordering states to procurement centres, he said. PTI TKP NP