Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government will procure paddy from farmers with the revised minimum support price (MSP) during this Kharif season.
Informing this to the media on Thursday, the Director of the Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation (OSCSC), Biswajit Das, said under the revised MSP, the government will pay Rs 1,868 per quintal for fair average quality (FAQ) of paddy and Rs 1888 for grade-A paddy.
He further informed that the state government will procure 19 quintals of paddy per acre from irrigated land and 12 quintals per acre from non-irrigated land.
Das also stated that like the previous year, the farmers will be given an advance token to sell their produce at the mandis (procurement centres). The tokens will be generated seven days before the date of procurement while notice will be affixed at the district procurement centre (DPC) mentioning the date and the name of the farmers who will sell their produce, he added.
Apart from this, a message will be sent to the mobile phones of the farmers. If any registered farmer has not received the token, he can obtain it by calling on the toll-free number 1967, he added.
Das further said that the Procurement Committee will fix the date for the procurement of paddy in each district. It has been decided that the procurement of paddy in the western Odisha districts will be completed by November 15.
For the payment of procurement price, the P-PAS (Paddy Procurement Automation System) arrangements have been made in the district headquarters while offline payment will be made in 50 blocks having no internet connectivity, he pointed out.
About 14.96 lakh farmers have registered their names for the procurement of paddy this year.
