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Ahead of commencement of paddy procurement in the state, the government has set in motion the task to register the names of farmers supplying paddy. The process of registration has completed on September 30.
"It (the registration) will help the government to assess the number of small, marginal and big farmers and to fix the target of paddy procurement from different districts", said state's food supplies and consumer welfare secretary, M S Padhee, here, recently. Padhee, however, said, the government was yet to fix the target of rice procurement this year. The state cabinet will decide the procurement target after considering all aspects. Last year, the state procured around 2.83 million tonne of rice, he stated. Though the paddy procurement season begins on October 1 every year, in western Odisha, the actual procurement starts from the second week of November. In southern parts of the state, it commences even later in December.
On the National Food Security Act (NFSA), Padhee said it will be implemented in the state in a phased manner. In the first phase, it would be implemented in Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on a pilot basis from February next year.
The process of digitization of ration cards in Bhubaneswar's urban and rural areas was going on and it is expected to be completed by February 2015 for smooth implementation of NFSA on pilot basis. He said, the process would be launched in all urban local bodies (ULBs) and district headquarter towns in the second phase. Rest of the blocks will be covered in the third phase. The entire process is expected to be over by July next year.
