Pilibhit: Pilibhit district administration on Monday rolled back its decision to restrict paddy procurement at 60 quintals from each farmer a day by government agencies.
The decision was taken after a large number of farmers staged a dharna on the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) campus earlier in the day and closed the gates, not allowing officials and staff to pass through. The farmers alleged that the procurement centres were declining to accept their paddy on the day of their turn after making them wait for a fortnight.
The matter was resolved after an official announcement for the withdrawal of the ceiling on paddy procurement.
A few days ago, district magistrate Pulkit Khare in order to prioritize the procurement of marginal and small farmers had fixed the maximum limit of paddy purchasing by government agencies at 60 quintals per farmer a day.
The farmers who had brought more than 60 quintals paddy were consequently directed at the government centres to wait for their next turn for procurement of their additional paddy. This irked them.
Avinash Jha, district food and marketing officer, said under the new system launched from Monday, two weighing units at each procurement centre had now been earmarked for small farmers and the third one for big farmers who had been exempted from the ceiling of 60 quintals.
The move was a result of the surrender of over 50 procurement centres by different government agencies due to various reasons. The procurement had initially begun with a network of 165 centres but has dropped to 109 centres at present.
Jha added that against the target of 3.25 lakh MT assigned to Pilibhit by the state administration, the district had so far procured only 1.15 lakh MT of paddy.
The decision was taken after a large number of farmers staged a dharna on the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) campus earlier in the day and closed the gates, not allowing officials and staff to pass through. The farmers alleged that the procurement centres were declining to accept their paddy on the day of their turn after making them wait for a fortnight.
The matter was resolved after an official announcement for the withdrawal of the ceiling on paddy procurement.
A few days ago, district magistrate Pulkit Khare in order to prioritize the procurement of marginal and small farmers had fixed the maximum limit of paddy purchasing by government agencies at 60 quintals per farmer a day.
The farmers who had brought more than 60 quintals paddy were consequently directed at the government centres to wait for their next turn for procurement of their additional paddy. This irked them.
Avinash Jha, district food and marketing officer, said under the new system launched from Monday, two weighing units at each procurement centre had now been earmarked for small farmers and the third one for big farmers who had been exempted from the ceiling of 60 quintals.
The move was a result of the surrender of over 50 procurement centres by different government agencies due to various reasons. The procurement had initially begun with a network of 165 centres but has dropped to 109 centres at present.
Jha added that against the target of 3.25 lakh MT assigned to Pilibhit by the state administration, the district had so far procured only 1.15 lakh MT of paddy.