Himachal Pradesh: Record paddy procurement of 1.34L quintals in Kangra dist
By Rajiv Mahajan
The State Food and Civil Supply Corporation (SFCSC), in collaboration with the Kangra district Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC), achieved record procurement of 1,34,626 quintals of paddy from 1,451 farmers across four centres in Kangra district this year. The official procurement date was set for October 10, but the process began earlier, on October 5, to accommodate the early arrival of paddy at the centres.
This significant increase in procurement is attributed to the inability of local farmers to sell their produce in private grain mandis in neighbouring Punjab. Unlike previous years, when most farmers sold their paddy to private players, they preferred the local procurement centres this year.
Last year, the APMC operated three centres at Milwan, Riyali and Fatehpur, with storage capacities of 1,100, 600, and 400 metric tonnes, respectively. This year, a new centre was added in Nagrota Bagwan. However, this center procured only 755 quintals of paddy from 26 farmers. In contrast, substantial increases were recorded at the Fatehpur (65,454 quintals), Milwan (37,787 quintals), and Riyali (30,630 quintals) centers. The SFCSC procured paddy at Rs 2,203 per quintal, as per the minimum support price (MSP) announced by the Central Government.
Swaran Singh, Area Manager of SFCSC, Dharamshala, highlighted that this was only the second year of paddy procurement by the corporation, which took over from the Food Corporation of India two years ago. Procurement activities at all centres concluded on December 31.
Dixit Jaryal, Secretary of APMC Kangra, stated that the committee ensured hassle-free procurement by providing infrastructure such as potable water, waiting rooms, electricity, parking, wooden crates and winnowing machines for grain cleaning. These measures ensured efficient and farmer-friendly operations at the centres.
The success of this year’s procurement underscores the growing importance of local procurement infrastructure in supporting farmers and ensuring fair prices for their produce.
This article was been republished from The Tribune.