Deputy Commissioner Kathua Rahul Pandey on Tuesday inaugurated a Paddy Procurement Centre at Kandi village Bakhta set up by District Administration to facilitate farmers for hassle free sale of Agriculture Produce during Kharif 2022.
The Department of Agriculture Production and Farmers Welfare Kathua has made all necessary arrangements as facilitator at Procurement Centres/mandies for procurement of Paddy by Food Corporation of India from farmers.
Speaking on the occasion, the Deputy Commissioner said the newly opened procurement centre at Bakhta is first Mandi established in Kandi areas which will be of great help for the farmers who earlier had to cover long distances to sell their produce.
He appealed to the farmers to avail the benefit to remunerative prices by selling their paddy crop at the centre.The DC appealed the farmers to sell their paddy in the nearest procurement centre at the Minimum Support Price issued by the Government of India i.e Rs. 2040/ quintal for non-refined and Rs. 2060/ quintal for refined paddy as per the norms prescribed by the Food Corporation of India.
He further appealed the farmers to avoid excess moisture in paddy, which should also be devoid of inert material so that the produce can be procured easily at procurement centres.Chief Agriculture Officer, Sanjeev Rai Gupta said a total of 11 mandies have been made operational across the district and so far 20,000 quintal of paddy crop has been procured.
He said the department has set a procurement target of 3 lakh quintals of paddy in the current season. The CAO also appealed to the farmer community to register themselves for paddy procurement at the nearest Agriculture Zonal Office/ HQ.
“Those who had registered themselves during 2021-22 Rabi Season need not to register again as the same registration id can be used for the sale of paddy by farmers at procurement centres, '' he added.BDC Chairperson Barnoti Brijeshwar Singh, DDC Member Dinga Amb Rimmi Charak, District Agriculture Officer (Ext.) Raju Mahajan (District Nodal Officer for Procurement for Paddy 2022-23) was also present on the occasion.