Bhubaneswar: An inter-ministerial review meeting was held at Lok Seva Bhawan under the chairmanship of Deputy Chief Minister Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo on Rabi procurement status of 2024-25. Currently, the Rabi paddy procurement process is going on. Today is the last date for procurement. While the target was set for Rabi procurement this year is 14 LMT, about 19 LMT of paddy has been procured till today. Last year, 12 LMT of paddy was procured, while this season, a record amount of paddy has been procured. Odisha is the only state to provide Rs 3100 per quintal for both MSP and input assistance to farmers under the Samruddh Krushak Yojana for Rabi crop.
In order to ensure transparency in the paddy procurement process and to prevent inflow of paddy from other neighboring states, the implementation of the e-KYC system for farmers will be brought. This will benefit the real beneficiaries of our state. Apart from this, the government is considering to bring a new policy for paddy procurement in the near future.
Currently, 27 LMT of rice is required for the state’s own consumption. But this year, a total of 93 LMT of paddy has been produced in our state, including Kharif and Rabi paddy. Out of this, an average of 63 LMT of rice will be produced. Which is much more than the demand of the state. The meeting also discussed the management of surplus rice. In this context, arrangements have been made to produce 2G ethanol from the paddy straw and broken rice, by giving it to the ethanol plant in the state.
In this meeting, along with Deputy Chief Minister Shri Singhdeo, Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Krushna Chandra Patra, Commerce and Transport Minister Bibhuti Bhushan Jena were present and conducted a departmental review. Principal Secretary, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Sanjay Kumar Singh, Managing Director, Supply Corporation Sudarshan Chakraborty, Director, Agriculture and Food Production Shubham Saxena and other senior officers attended the meeting.
