Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s Deputy Chief Minister KV Singhdeo on Friday said the farmers can sell paddy in the ‘mandi’ of neighbouring district, if procurement is affected in the mandi of their area.
Sinhdeo said this at the district collector’s conference in Bhubaneswar and directed them to streamline the paddy procurement process.
“In order to make the process easy and transparent, the state government will take steps for online registration of collected paddy and introduce GPS tracking of the vehicles carrying the produce. This will prevent tampering of the process for the benefits of the farmers,” he said.
Stating that the rice mill owners would be directed to supply jute bags and ropes to the farmers, he said the government would open 58 cold storages across the state soon.
Singhdeo told the collectors to encourage the farmers to diversify the crops and take up organic farming to improve their income. The government has created Agri Stack application so that the details about the farmers and their land can be available for everybody, he added.
Speaking at the meeting, Cooperative Minister Pradip Bal Samant called upon the collectors to take firm steps to stop “Katni Chhatni” (deducting a certain amount from the farmers’ produce) at the time of procurement.
He further said the infrastructure of the mandis would be upgraded with provision of basic facilities including drinking water, toilets, adequate lighting, rest rooms and others. Each mandi would be under the direct supervision of a nodal officer and a supervisor, he added.
Stating that the government has targeted procurement of kharif paddy from 4,006 mandis, he said stern steps should be taken against the millers and middlemen who would be found depriving the farmers of getting the minimum support price of Rs 3,100 per quintal of paddy.