DHANBAD: Paddy production in the state is likely to hit a high this year with agriculture department officials saying that the annual target of production was 10.51 lakh quintal but due to the increased irrigation area and conducive weather, the final output is expected to exceed by 20%.
The agriculture department has helped farmers irrigate 42,070 hectare of land this year which is almost double the land that was irrigated last year.
District Agriculture Officer (
DAO)
Aseem Ranjan Ekka said, "We have set up 14 Primary
Agriculture Credit Society (PACS) units and 14 Suvidha
Kendras in nine blocks across the district to procure paddy from farmers. In comparison, only eight PACS centres were set up last year."
Ekka added, "Sometimes bumper production becomes a matter of anxiety for farmers which leads them to middle men. Keeping this in mind, the department is toiling hard to reach out to every farmer and procure their produce."
According to the official data of the department, 21,000 quintal of paddy was procured last year from 947 farmers while this year the department is expecting the procurement to increase significantly.
The farmers would be paid Rs 1,550 per quintal and Rs 150 as bonus. On the other hand, these farmers sell their produce at Rs 1,200 to Rs 1400 per quintal to the middlemen and incur a loss of about Rs 300 per quintal. The DAO said that payment for the procured paddy would be deposited to the beneficiaries' bank account within 7-10 days.
Representative image
