Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government will procure 55 lakh metric tonne (LMT) of paddy during kharif marketing season (KMS) 2018-19 beginning October 1.
A decision to this effect was taken at the meeting of the State Cabinet presided over by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the State Secretariat here on Monday.
Talking to mediapersons after the meeting, chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi said that the Cabinet approved the Food and Procurement Policy for KMS 2018-19 to regulate all aspects of paddy and rice procurement during the ensuing KMS.
He said that a tentative target of 37 LMT in terms of rice has been fixed. In terms of paddy, this comes to around 55 LMT. There is no bar for procurement of any higher quantum if more paddy comes to the mandis from the registered farmers.
The Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare minister has been authorized to revise this target if the need so arises, he added.
Stating that in KMS 2017-18, 49.06 LMT of Kharif and Rabi paddy was procured (In terms of rice, it comes to 33.21 LMT), Padhi said the Kharif paddy will be procured during the period from November 2018 to April 2019 and Rabi paddy from May to June 2019.
He said that paddy will be procured from the farmers who are registered in the online portal of Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare department. The farmers will have to provide plot details for their registration. The plot details will be verified by integration with the Bhulekh database maintained by the Revenue and Disaster Management department.
The procuring societies PACS (Primary Agricultural Credit Society) and Large Area Adivasi Multipurpose Co-operative Society (LAMPCS) shall endeavour to bring more and more small and marginal farmers and actual tillers including sharecroppers into the procurement fold so that they receive the benefit of MSP, he added.
He further said that the Cabinet has decided to waive the past practice of deducting towards personal consumption requirement of three quintals of paddy per member in the family of the farmer for computation of marketable surplus of paddy from KMS 2018-19. This will facilitate the entry of more small and marginal farmers and actual tillers of soil including sharecroppers into the procurement fold.
The chief secretary said that the paddy will be procured as per the Minimum Support Price (MSP) as announced by the Centre. While the common variety paddy will be procured at Rs 1750 per quintal, the Grade- A variety paddy would be procured at Rs 1770 per quintal.
The paddy to be procured must conform to the fair average quality (FAQ) specifications by the Centre. The procuring agencies/district administration shall make wide publicity regarding FAQ quality of paddy. Similarly, rice to be delivered by custom millers must conform to FAQ norm. “Besides, the purchase of FAQ paddy at prices below MSP shall be punishable under the Essential Commodities Act- 1955,” he said, adding that wide publicity will be made for the farmers to bring FAQ paddy to procurement centres.
The paddy will be procured by the Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation (OSCSC) from all the districts and if necessary, other state agencies will be deployed in rice-surplus districts only.
The OSCSC and other agencies shall procure paddy through PACS, LAMPCS, Women Self Help Groups (WSHGs) and Pani Panchayats, while emphasis will be given for the opening of the adequate number of Paddy Purchase Centers (Mandis) by the societies on behalf of procuring agencies.
The chief secretary also said that the payment of farmers’ dues on account of paddy sold to the government shall be transferred directly to their bank accounts through online mode. All such payments shall be made within 24 to 72 hours of their sale of paddy.
On the participation of the millers, he said 100% delivery of CMR (customed milled rice) of previous KMS by the custom millers is a pre-condition for participation in the procurement operations in KMS 2018-19.
Rice millers that owe any dues to the state agencies shall not be allowed to participate in the procurement process,
On the evacuation of surplus rice, the chief secretary said as Odisha requires 23 LMT of rice for its public distribution system (PDS), the Food Corporation of India (FCI) will evacuate balance rice to other states as per the MoU with the state government
He said that the paddy procurement process in all 308 procuring blocks will be conducted through Paddy Procurement Automation System (P-PAS). There is no procurement in six blocks in view of lack of marketable surplus. All documents in connection with paddy procurement shall be generated from the computer through P-PAS software.
The absence of human intervention will make the whole process simple, hassle-free and transparent, he pointed out.
Padhi further said that the district administration and all other stakeholders shall take all necessary steps to prevent distress sale of paddy.
