**Bhubaneswar: ** In view of the Rabi harvest and denouement of the Kharif season, the State Government has expedited its efforts for procurement of paddy in both the seasons, especially the Rabi.
A review meeting was presided over by Odisha Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi and Food Supply and Consumer Welfare Secretary Vir Vikram Yadav at the Secretariat here on Thursday.
During the high-level meet, the State Level Procurement Committee reviewed the preparedness on procurement of paddy during both Kharif and Rabi Season, as per the approval of the State Cabinet.
While briefing media, Secretary of Food Supply Vir Vikram Yadav said, “This was a review meeting to discuss the crop procurement in the upcoming Rabi season. Discussion on the present level of preparedness as well as the future preparatory measures were held. A tentative figure of 10 lakh metric tonne (MT) has been set up for Rabi crop this year.”
“However, this is an indicative term and may further increase if there is surplus collection of grains. The registration of farmers has started and so far more than 6,000 farmers have registered for the procurement drive,” he added.
Yadav also informed that the Rabi crop procurement will start from May 1 and end on June 30. The crops will be procured from the 419 Agricultural Co-Operative Societies that have registered with the State Government. The State Government has decided to disburse Rs 1550 per quintal for common variety paddy.
Furthermore, the procurement will cover 18 districts of the State with 95 percent of the grains procured from six districts namely Kalahandi, Koraput, Nuapada, Sambalpur, Sonepur and lastly Bargarh, which has the undisputed tag of being the ‘Rice Bowl of Odisha’.
At present, 1,05,000 farmers have registered for the procurement drive, covering 4.28 lakh hectares of land.
Coming to Kharif crops, the Chief Secretary informed that 38 lakh metric tonne (MT) of paddy grains have been collected so far. Out of this, 70 percent has been dispersed to rice mills for de-husking and milling.
Notably, the foodgrains in Kharif season were collected from a total of 6,81, 816 farmers in the 331 blocks of all 30 districts across the State.
The estimated amount of the entire grain stock is said to be around Rs 5, 853 crores. The Kharif foodgrain collection drive would terminate on April 30.
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