Paddy farmers from East Godavari district can now sell their produce to the Minimum Support Price (MSP) fixed by the government by just making a call to the nearby paddy procurement centre.
They need not bring the sample to the centre for approval and cart the stocks for selling. Instead, they can make a call and provide details such as their name, extent of crop and the approximate yield. Personnel from the mobile paddy procurement centre would visit the farm, test the sample and pick up the stock from the farm field itself.
“The new system is being implemented in the district from this rabi season and it is aimed at reducing burden on the farmers and providing them an opportunity to sell their produce at ease,” says Joint Collector A. Mallikarjuna.
Paddy had been transplanted in 2.23 lakh hectares in the district, from which 12.17 lakh tonnes of yield is expected for the season. The farmers are expected to put 10.95 lakh tonnes for sale.
“We are retaining all the 284 paddy procurement centres for the current season too, but the procurement will be done in the new method. Our aim is to eliminate middlemen in the paddy procurement and render maximum benefit to the farmers,” says Dr. Mallikarjuna.
When it comes to the MSP, the government has fixed the price as ₹1,590 per quintal of the Grade-A variety and the same as ₹1,550 for the normal variety. For the 75 kg bag, the prices are ₹1,192.50 and ₹1,162.50 respectively. Farmers can get the details of the prices and that of the paddy procurement centres by dialling the control room on phone number 0884-2354341 between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m.
“We are going to conduct training classes for the staff working in the paddy procurement centres at the revenue division level from September 25,” the official said.
