Farmers suffer in absence of paddy procurement centres: State govt, FCI don’t see eye to eye, send separate proposals to Centre

Farmers suffer in absence of paddy
procurement centres State govt, FCI don’t see eye to eye, send
separate proposals to CentreArchit Watts
Tribune News Service

Jammu, October 17
The paddy growers in the state may have to wait for more time to get procurement centres (mandis), as there is a conflict between the Agriculture Department and the Food Corporation of India (FCI) over the establishment of these centres.
Being a Central government project, the state government through the Agriculture Department has proposed the setting up of 26 procurement centres, while the FCI, which is the nodal agency that procures the farmers’ produce, has sent a proposal for the creation of only 10 centres.
Minister for Agriculture Ghulam Hassan Mir had last year assured the paddy growers that the procurement centres would be created soon to lift their produce at the minimum support prices (MSP).
However, in the absence of these procurement centres, farmers have no other option but to sell their produce to mill owners. As a result, they are getting a lesser price for their produce.
“Though the state government has fixed Rs 1,080 per quintal as the MSP for the procurement of rice yet growers are getting just Rs 800 to 850 per quintal, as mill owners are fleecing the growers,” said Dev Raj, president of the RS Pura Rice Growers Association.
He alleged, “The government is not much concerned about the problems being faced by farmers. The most important project of creating the procurement centres is getting delayed. The authorities concerned should reach a consensus over the procurement centres so that they can be set up in a short period.”
He added that almost three months ago the authorities concerned had identified the land for these centres, but nothing was done after that.
VK Bhakri, Joint Director, Agriculture Department, said: “We have completed the formalities and have submitted the proposal for the creation of 26 procurement centres to the Central government for its approval.”
Bhakri accepted the fact that mill owners and agents were fleecing farmers. “The private mill owners are fleecing farmers and that is why we have planned to create procurement centres so that farmers can get genuine price for their produce,” added Bhakri.
Meanwhile, Rajesh Meena, deputy general manager of the FCI, Jammu, said: “We have sent the proposal to create 10 procurement centres and as soon as the government will approve it, we will be ready to start procurement through mandis. We have enough storage capacity and we are waiting for the approval of the much-awaited project.”