Virendra Singh Rawat / Lucknow
The paddy procurement in the current kharif marketing season 2022-23 has inched up to almost 6 million tonnes (MT).
Total payables for the government purchase of paddy has crossed the figure of Rs 12,000 crore in the state so far.
Procurement is being done by 4,200 centres set up by the state agencies and Food Corporation of India (FCI) across 75 districts in the state.
In the current kharif season, the MSP of paddy has been fixed at Rs 2,040 per quintal (100 kg) for common paddy and Rs 2,060 per quintal for Grade A paddy under the minimum support price (MSP) mechanism.
Meanwhile, the state government is ensuring that the paddy farmers are paid within the stipulated timeframe against procurement.
The procurement centres are being operated by the UP Cooperative Federation (PCF), UP food and civil supplies department, UP Cooperative Union, UP Consumer Cooperative Union and UP State Krishi Utpadan Mandi Parishad, as well as the FCI.
Since the state is targetting to procure 7 MT of paddy during the five months (Oct-Feb) of the procurement cycle, UP has already achieved 85 percent of its target so far.
For the purpose of institutional procurement, the farmers are required to register on the food and civil supplies portal www.fcs.up.gov.in for supplying the cash crop.
Earlier, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath had asked officials to ensure a seamless procurement season so that farmers do not face any hurdles.
The procurement centres were geo-tagged by the Remote Sensing Application Centre (RSAC) for transparency and efficiency.
In UP, paddy, wheat and sugarcane are the most prominent cash crops and collectively account for nearly Rs 50,000 crore in annual payout to farmers against procurement.
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While paddy and wheat are procured by the government agencies, a majority of the UP sugar mills are run by the private sector entities numbering 93.