Bad condition of paddy purchase in this state… Target 55 lakhs, but government could buy only 25 lakhs

Paddy Procurement In West Bengal: Paddy has been procured in most of the states of the country. There are only a few states, where the exercise of paddy procurement is going on. Paddy procurement situation in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar was already sluggish. Paddy procurement has registered a boom in Chhattisgarh. Now the condition of the farmers in this state regarding the purchase of paddy is not good. Here farmers are forced to turn to private centers instead of government centers to sell paddy.

Paddy purchase target of 55 lakhs

The bad condition of paddy purchase at government centers in the country is in West Bengal. Here the target of paddy procurement was kept at 52 lakh tonnes. Then the state government was able to buy 50 lakh tonnes of paddy. It was 97 percent of the total target. If we look at the figures, the government could not achieve the target even last year. This time the West Bengal government has fixed a target of 55 lakh tonnes of paddy procurement.

26 lakh tonnes purchased so far

If we look at the figures, the state government wants to buy 55 lakh tonnes of paddy this year. But the condition of paddy procurement in government centers at the ground level is bad. Only 26 lakh tonnes of paddy can be purchased here. If we look at the figures in terms of percentage, then it is 47 percent of the procurement relative to the target.

Why paddy purchase is not increasing?

According to media reports, there is a reason behind the non-increasing paddy procurement in government centres. Actually, the MSP value of paddy in West Bengal is Rs 2060 per quintal. While paddy is being sold in the open market at the rate of Rs 1950 to 1960. Due to not much difference between the MSP and the rates of paddy in the open market, farmers are preferring to sell their produce at private centers only. Farmers say that the state government should take steps to increase paddy procurement at government centres.