Puri: Paddy procurement in Puri district for 2020 Rabi season will start from May 8, additional district collector Pradeep Kumar Sahoo has said.
A decision in this context was taken in a meeting held Tuesday among farmers’ representatives, government officials and public representatives of the district.
In the meeting, farmer’s representative Ashok Kumar Pradhan said that the farmers won’t be able to harvest the paddy since they don’t have any facility to store it. Besides, chances of the seeds getting spoiled owing to unseasonal rain are also high, he added.
“If the seeds fail to qualify laboratory test, the procurement centres will reject it. We will have no option but to sell it to the middlemen at throw-away prices,” Pradhan said.
According to several sources, farmers in the district are selling paddy to the middlemen at Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,300 per quintal amid fears of unnatural rains. They are said to be bearing a loss of Rs 500 per quintal of paddy.
Earlier, the procurement used to continue for three days a week. That said, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it will continue for six days of a week with only 30 farmers being allowed to sell their paddies at each procurement centre.
PNN