Jagatsinghpur farmers fail to register online

JAGATSINGHPUR: Farmers of the district have resorted to distress sale of paddy after they failed to register their names online at Paddy Procurement Automation System (P-PAS) due to callous attitude of officials concerned.

The district administration had decided to procure 74,411,76 tonnes of paddy from 33,443 farmers in 2018-19 kharif marketing session. Accordingly, the minimum support price was fixed at `1,750 for fair average quality (FAQ) and `1,770 for Grade-A paddy by the Government. Later, the district administration had set December 31 as the last date for farmers’ registration and opened the mandis on December 7. 
But thousands of farmers in the district failed to register their names online due to negligence of Cooperation officials, lack of internet connectivity in panchayats and also lack of awareness among farmers.

Farmers of Dabour, Tiruna and Jamugaon panchayats in Naugaon block alleged that while 519 farmers had applied for registration at Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) at Tiruna through P-PAS, 415 farmers’ names were found to be registered. As a result, 104 farmers failed to sell their produce at Government procurement centres, forcing them to go for distress sale. Similar situation is also prevailing in other blocks.

On the other hand, several cooperative societies are yet to start paddy procurement after opening of mandis across the district since last month. 

While the district requires 40 millers to lift paddy from farmers, it has only one miller. As a result, around 26 millers from outside the district have been pressed into the service causing delay in procurement. The debt-ridden farmers have now resorted to distress sale.

Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societies Ranjan Kumar Mishra said of 105 purchasing centres, paddy procurement is continuing in 97 mandis. Other centres are lying idle for want of millers. While registration of farmers has been affected due to submission of wrong account numbers, steps are being taken to correct it, he added.