Paddy procurement in mess: 8,936 tokens lapse in Sundargarh

ROURKELA: The procurement process in Sundargarh district continues to be mired in controversy while the administration has purchased around four lakh quintal of extra paddy than last year in the ongoing kharif marketing season so far. This, despite 8,936 tokens issued for procurement of about 4.18 lakh quintal paddy having lapsed.

Besides, a sizeable number of farmers with active tokens are waiting for their turn to sell their produce amid growing desperation as the procurement process will end on March 31. Deputy registrar of cooperative societies Rashmilata Behera said, till Wednesday, around 22.42 lakh quintal of paddy were purchased from 36,932 farmers which is much higher than last year’s total procurement of 18.49 lakh quintal. Behera admitted that 8,936 tokens issued to farmers have lapsed. Till March 15, there were 3,768 active tokens with farmers for sale of around 3.63 lakh quintal of paddy. 

She said paddy is being purchased at different procurement centres. However, she refused to confirm whether paddy against all the active tokens would be procured.  Reliable sources said, majority of the tokens lapsed as the cooperatives societies running the procurement centres were not given slips for purchase. In a few cases, the farmers did not have the stock as they had already sold their crop elsewhere for lower prices. Of the remaining stock of 3.63 lakh quintal against the active tokens, a maximum of 50,000 quintal could be purchased in absence of extra target.

It is learnt that majority of the 134 procurement centres across the district have closed after exhausting the purchase target. Only a handful of centres are procuring paddy from farmers with active tokens. 
Last year, farmers with 6,482 tokens for sale of around 4.23 lakh quintal of paddy valued at `76.89 crore were left out when procurement ended.  Bonai Krushak Sangh president Dambrudhar Kisan alleged that the procurement process is in a mess. Farmers needing immediate cash for emergency purposes sold their paddy crop at lower prices while others are also selling their produce at throwaway prices after their tokens lapsed.