The Ballari district administration has appealed to farmers to enroll between November 30 and December 30 for selling their paddy crop under the price support scheme.
Presiding over a Task Force meeting at the district administrative complex in Ballari on Wednesday, Additional Deputy Commissioner P.S. Manjunath said that a maximum of 40 quintals of paddy per acre would be purchased from farmers at Minimum Support Price for 2020-21.
“Karnataka Food and Civil Supplies Corporation Limited, a State-owned undertaking, is designated as the nodal agency to purchase paddy from farmers under the price support scheme. We have planned to open procurement centres at Ballari, Sirguppa and Kampli and farmers can visit any of these centres and get enrolled online,” Mr. Manjunath said.
As per an estimation by the officer, around 60,000 quintals of paddy is expected to be purchased in 2020-21 under the price support scheme, as compared to 47,000 quintals in the previous year. He also directed the officers concerned to make necessary preparations for procurement by getting rice mills operating in the district enrolled and collecting data about their hulling and stocking capacity.
“The government has fixed Minimum Support Price of ₹ 1,868 a quintal for normal paddy and ₹ 1888 a quintal for Grade A quality paddy. The officers concerned need to take steps to make people aware of the scheme and enrolment schedule and procedure. Experts should be deployed in each procurement centre for checking the quality of paddy to be procured. We should also ensure that there is no inconvenience to any farmer in the name of quality check during the procurement process,” he said.
Joint Director of Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Sridhar, Joint Director of Agriculture Sharanappa Mudgal and other senior officers were present.
