Previous Record of Paddy Purchase Broken in Chhattisgarh

• 08 Feb 2022

Why in News

• In the paddy procurement campaign that was concluded in Chhattisgarh on February 7, 2022, the state government set a new record this year by buying 97 lakh 97 thousand 122 metric tonnes of paddy from farmers in the state at support price, breaking its previous year's record.

Key Points

• This year, paddy procurement in the state was scheduled from December 1, 2021 to January 31, 2022. In order to give opportunity to the farmers who could not sell paddy due to unseasonal rains, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel had extended the stipulated period of paddy procurement from January 31 to February 7.
• This year, 21,77,283 farmers have sold their paddy on support price, which is 1,23,683 more than the 20,53,600 farmers sold last year.
• It is worth noting that due to the farmer-friendly policies of the Chhattisgarh government, there has been a significant increase in the number and production of paddy producing farmers in the state in the last three years, due to which the record of buying paddy on support price is breaking year after year.
• For the convenience of the farmers, the number of paddy procurement centers was also increased from 2311 to 2484, which made it easier for the farmers to sell paddy. The price of gunny bags of farmers was also increased from Rs 18 to Rs 25.
• A new record has been set for purchasing 97.97 lakh metric tonnes of paddy this year. 92 lakh metric tonnes of paddy was procured in the year 2021, 83.94 lakh metric tonnes in the year 2020 and 80.37 lakh metric tonnes in 2019.
• This year, a total of 24,06,560 farmers had registered for selling paddy in the Kharif marketing year 2021-22, the area of paddy sown by them is 30 lakh 10 thousand 880 hectares, while the area of paddy registered last year is 27 lakh 92 thousand 827.
• It is worth mentioning that along with giving a fair price to the farmers for their crops, the Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojana is being run by the Chhattisgarh government to promote crop productivity and crop diversification. Due to this, people who have turned away from farming have also started returning to farming, due to which the number of farmers, area under cultivation and crop productivity are increasing continuously in the state.
• According to the information received from the Food Department, Rajnandgaon district has been the leader in the procurement of paddy on support price in the state. Out of 149 procurement centers of Rajnandgaon district, maximum 8 lakh 25 thousand 127 metric tonnes of paddy was procured. Janjgir-Champa district stood second by procuring 8 lakh 24 thousand 552 metric tonnes of paddy and Mahasamund district stood third by purchasing 7 lakh 74 thousand 136 metric tonnes of paddy.
• So far 64.43 lakh metric tonnes of paddy has been lifted. By custom milling, 9.47 lakh metric tonnes of rice has been deposited in the Food Corporation of India and 7.66 lakh metric tonnes in Civil Supplies Corporation. This year, 19 thousand 83 crore 97 lakhs have been paid to them in lieu of paddy purchased from farmers.