U.P. govt to start paddy procurement from Oct 1

The Uttar Pradesh government will begin paddy procurement for the current marketing season from October 1, with new technological measures aimed at ensuring smoother and more transparent transactions with farmers and allocation to rice mills.

The target is likely to be set at 70 lakh metric tonnes, despite having fallen short of this goal last year. The new procurement policy is expected to get the Cabinet nod very soon.

“This year, we are focusing on minimising human interventions by introducing technology at different levels for better efficiency and more transparency,” said principal secretary, food and civil supplies, Alok Kumar . This, he said, would also ensure a fair allocation of paddy to 1820 rice mills on the basis of their capacity and track record.

The procurement centres are proposed to be equipped with internet connectivity, computers, laptops, iPads and e-pop machines. “If any procurement centre gets packed to its capacity, the food department will get an automatic trigger after which the paddy from there will be shifted to the nearest godown,” Kumar explained.

The registration of farmers is already underway with around 950 farmers having already registered for the sale of their paddy to the government at the minimum support price (MSP) fixed by the Centre at ₹2300 per quintal and ₹2320 per quintal for grade-A paddy. The paddy target, according to Kumar, is likely to be fixed at 70 LMT for this year.

Last year, the government could procure only 53.79 lakh MT of paddy worth ₹11,745 crore from 8 lakh farmers against the target of 70 lakh of MT. Paddy procurement will start in western UP from October 1 and in eastern UP from November 1.

This article has been republished from The Hindustan Times.