In the coming 2023-24 kharif marketing season, the Uttar Pradesh government is targetting paddy procurement of 7 million tonnes (MT).
The procurement of paddy will commence on October 1 and continue through February 29, 2024, starting from western UP and gradually covering the eastern UP districts.
The MSP for common variety and grade-A paddy has been fixed at Rs 2,183 and Rs 2,203 per quintal (100 kg) respectively, which translates into total payment of over Rs 15,000 crore if the state achieves its target of 7 MT.
The state will accord priority to the small and medium farmers, whose net harvest is less than 60 quintals so as to avert any ‘distress sale’ situation’ in UP.
Since, Lok Sabha elections are due in the early months of calendar 2024, the Yogi Adityanath government is taking steps to keep farmers in good humour and ensure prompt payments.
About 4,000 paddy procurement centres will be set up in UP, of which 200 centres will be run by the Food Corporation of India (FCI); 1,600 centres will be set up by the UP Cooperative Federation (PCF), followed by state food department 1,350 etc.
Moreover, the procurement centres, rice mills and FCI warehouses/depots will be geo-tagged by the Remote Sensing Application Centre (RSAC) for transparent kharif marketing season.
The institutional procurement of paddy, wheat and sugarcane provide the much needed leeway to the UP rural sector with the composite direct economy of about Rs 50,000 crore every year.
Earlier, launching a campaign for the enrolment and verification of farmers under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath observed it was the hard work of farmers which establish the state as an ‘economic superpower’ in India.
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Nearly 26.3 million UP farmers have been covered under the flagship scheme, and an amount of Rs 55,800 crore transferred to their bank accounts.
Further, the Centre is promoting the cultivation of crops, other than cereals such as pulses, oilseeds, and nutri-cereals or ‘Shree Anna’ by offering a higher MSP.