Dikhyaa Mohanty 
An interministerial review meeting on the procurement of paddy for this year’s Kharif season was held by Kanak Vardhan Singhdeo, the Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment and Power, at the Lok Seva Bhawan on Sunday. The meeting observed that the last stage of the paddy procurement preparations has been reached. As the dates draw near, Singhdeo emphasized the need to move quickly through the paddy procurement process and make sure that brokering, katni chhatni, and other anomalies are avoided. He also emphasized the need of paying farmers a fair price for their produce.
Beginning on November 20 in Bargarh and November 22 in Sambalpur, the procurement of paddy will begin. This year, additional input assistance with the minimum support price for paddy was offered for the first time at a rate of Rs 800 per quintal. On December 8, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi of Sohela in the Bargarh district will officially launch its payout. A total of Rs 800 per quintal will be given to all farmers who sold their paddy in the mandis up until December 7.
Grain quality will be tested using an automatic grain analyzer. 200 sizable PPCs with a paddy collection capacity of over 4,000 metric tons have already received these automatic grain analyzer equipment for installation. Additionally, equipment for testing moisture has been set up. In order to prevent the katni chhatni, Deputy CM Singhdeo instructed the millers to remain at the mandis. For farmers’ convenience, a control room will be located in each district. A nodal officer would oversee the operations at the mandis, and the entire procedure will be carried out in a transparent manner.
Minister of Food Supply & Consumer Affairs Krushna Chandra Patro, Minister of Cooperation Pradip Bal Samant, Principal Secretary Sanjay Kumar Singh, and Commissioner-cum-Secretary Rajesh Pravakar Patil were present in the high-level meeting.
