Harvested paddy procurement to be completed in 2 days, says Minister
Minister for Food and Civil Supplies G.R. Anil said here on Monday that the procurement of the paddy harvested in the district would be completed within two days. A total of 60,374 metric tonne of the second crop was so far procured from 24,969 farmers in the district.
In the first crop, the total paddy procured was 74,348 metric tonne from 33,792 farmers, and they were paid ₹210.55 crore. The Minister said that paddy procurement was being done vigorously.
He said some delays happened only in places where large lorries could not be brought. Talks were held between Supplyco officials and rice mill owners to address the issue. The Minister said that required measures were taken to solve the problem.
Mr. Anil said that procurement price was paid to all farmers who were given paddy receipt sheet (PRS) until March 15 this year. The farmers are being given the procurement price by way of PRS loans by State Bank of India and Canara Bank.
The Minister said that the PRS loan agreement with Canara Bank expired on March 31 and renewal efforts were currently in progress. After renewing the contract with Canara Bank, payments for the procured paddy will be made to all farmers, he said.
Central scheme
Mr. Anil said that the Central government's decentralised procurement scheme had stringent conditions that might not benefit farmers. However, he said that the State was adapting the project to better support farmers' needs.
The Minister pointed certain difficulties in the Centre's decentralised procurement scheme. For example, other States have procurement centres, and collection of paddy from those centres would be considered the time of procurement.
However, in Kerala there are no procurement centres. Therefore, the time of collecting paddy from the fields will be considered the procurement time in the State. 'Such differences often become reasons for the Centre to withhold our claims,' he said.
The Minister claimed the Central government owed Kerala ₹1,108 crore in minimum support price payments dating back to 2017. He cited technical difficulties imposed by the Centre as obstacles for the State.
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