Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government Monday approved the Food and Procurement policy with a tentative target to collect 52 lakh Metric Tonne (LMT) rice from farmers during Kharif Marketing Season for 2021-22. In terms of paddy this comes to around 77 LMT, Chief Secretary SC Mohapatra said after the proposal was approved at a meeting of the state Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here. The KMS, 2021-22 will commence from October 1, 2021, and continue till September 30, 2022. For Kharif, the tentative target for procurement of paddy would be 63 LMT and for Rabi, it will be 14 LMT.
The Odisha government will procure paddy during Kharif and Rabi seasons separately during the KMS. “There is no bar for procurement of any higher quantum if more paddy comes to ‘mandis’ from registered farmers,” Mahapatra said.
Under the policy, Odisha’s Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister has been authorised to revise this target if the need arises.
In KMS 2020-21, 77.33 LMT paddy was procured (both Kharif and Rabi included). In terms of rice, it was 52.35 LMT, Mahapatra stated.
The Kharif paddy will be procured in the state from November 2021 to March 2022 and Rabi paddy from May to June, next year. Highlighting that the paddy will be procured from registered farmers by payment of Minimum Support Price (MSP), the chief secretary said the paddy will be milled into rice by custom millers appointed for the purpose.
The rice obtained will be utilised in the state’s Public Distribution System (PDS) to meet the requirements under National Food Security Act, State Food Security Scheme, and other welfare schemes and the surplus rice will be delivered to the Food Corporation of India (FCI), he said.
Paddy will be procured from farmers who are registered in the online portal of FS and CW Department and Aadhaar will be the only ID proof for a registered farmer to sell paddy to the government. The sale of paddy is subject to Aadhaar based biometric identification, informed the chief secretary.
Like previous years, the chief secretary said all registered and eligible farmers will be intimated in advance through SMS regarding the date of sale of paddy and the quantity to be sold. The policy also mentioned that priority will be given to small and marginal farmers for the sale of paddy to the government. There would be no imposition on farmers to keep aside a certain portion of their produce for personal consumption by their families.
A registered farmer can sell his entire surplus, as per the approved yield rate, to the government. This will facilitate the entry of more small and marginal farmers into the procurement fold, he said.
For smooth functioning of PDS, the Cabinet also extended the licence period of private dealers from five and half years to six years. Normally, the licence of a dealer is renewed if there is no genuine public complaint or no action has been initiated under the Essential Commodities Act against him/her, the chief secretary informed.
In another decision, the Cabinet also approved three tenders for six mega drinking water projects worth Rs 1,282.01 crore under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JMM). The six mega drinking water projects would soon be implemented in Ganjam, Rayagada, Boudh, and Kandhamal districts. These projects would be completed within 24 months, Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water, and Law Minister Pratap Jena said.