Elated with good monsoon this year, Chhattisgarh government had set a target to procure 5 million tonne paddy at minimum support price (MSP) in the kharif marketing season 2010-11.
Paddy procurement will start from November 1 and will continue till January 31, state's food and civil supplies minister Punnulal Mohile said. The government has completed all necessary arrangement for the same.
The government had earmarked Rs 5,000 crore for purchasing paddy from the farmers through the village-level cooperative societies.
The state government had sought cash credit limit (CCL) from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for procuring paddy, Mohile said, adding that funds would not be an issue to purchase paddy. The state government would announce the bonus after the Union Government, he added.
Last year, paddy growing farmers in the state hat got a good return for the yield. With the bonus announced by the Centre and the state government, farmers had received Rs 1050 for a quintal of common variety of paddy and Rs 1080 for grade-A paddy as MSP during the kharif marketing season 2009-10.
The minister said, of the total procured paddy, a million tonne would be given to the Centre while the state would stock 1.2 million tonne for various welfare programmes including subsidised rice to poor people. The remaining stock would be given to the Food Corporation of India (FCI).