Subhash Rajta
Tribune News Service
Shimla, November 30
The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has extended paddy procurement by 15 days following a request by the state government to stretch the deadline by a month.
“Following the extension, the Food Corporation of India will now procure the crop till December 15 at nine procurement centres across the state,” said KC Chaman, Director, Food and Civil Supplies, the nodal agency for the procurement. Initially, the procurement was to be done till November 30.
In its communication to the Food and Civil Supplies, the ministry has also approved the revision of the procurement target from 54,000 metric tonne to 56,000 metric tonne. The enhancement in procurement target is surprising because the officials in both Food and Civil Supplies and Food Corporation of India feel the total procurement will be around 30,000 MT. Also, the FCI has procured 24,226 MT till date since the procurement started from October 15, which is not even half of the target.
“There’s no question of meeting the procurement target. We will end up at around 30,000 MT,” said FCI Deputy General Manager Ashok Kumar.
If the procurement winds up at 30,000 MT, that will leave a massive gap of 26,000 MT between the target and the total procurement. “It’s for the first time that paddy has been procured in the state. It’s quite possible that some farmers may have sold their crop in Punjab and Haryana, leaving this gap between target and total procurement,” said Kumar.
Agreeing that a substantial amount of paddy was sold in Punjab, Himachal Kisan Sabha president Kuldeep Tanwar attributed it to tardy procurement process. “Farmers registered themselves on the portal but they were given long dates for selling their produce because of the slow procurement. They couldn’t have waited so long, so many of them did sell their crop in the neighbouring state,” said Tanwar.
“The process lacked inter-departmental coordination. Steps need to be taken right away to make the process smoother next time,” Tanwar said.
Also, as against 10,452 farmers registered on the portal, the crop has been procured from just 5,110 farmers till date. So, how the remaining 50 per cent are going to sell their crop in just 15 days? The officials believe only a few farmers are left with the crop to sell.
“It appears many people registered just to check the system. Procurement in Kangra and Una is almost complete. In Solan, too, much of it has been done. It’s only in Sirmaur where we need to expedite the process,” said Chaman.
