Raipur, 06 July 2021. Taking a big decision in the interest of maize farmers in the review meeting of Food and Civil Supplies Department today, Chief Minister Shri Bhupesh Baghel has now announced to purchase maize of Kharif and Rabi season in all committees at support price. The Chief Minister said that establishment of ethanol production plants from maize should be encouraged in the high maize producing areas of the state, this would give good price to the maize farmers for their produce as well as increase employment opportunities. At present, maize is purchased at the support price in the identified societies. Maize can be used to make poultry feed and the residue can be used as animal feed. He also directed to initiate the establishment of ethanol production plants from sugarcane.
Food Minister Shri Amarjit Bhagat, Cooperation Minister Dr. Premsai Singh Tekam, State Food and Civil Supplies Corporation Chairman Shri Ram Gopal Agarwal, Chief Secretary Shri Amitabh Jain, Additional Chief Secretary to Chief Minister Shri Subrata Sahu, Secretary to Chief Minister Shri Siddharth Komal Singh Pardeshi, Food Secretary of the department, Mr. Topeshwar Verma, special secretary cooperative Mr. Himshikhar Gupta, MD of State Food and Civil Supplies Corporation. Shri Niranjan Das, Director Food Smt. Kiran Kaushal was also present in the meeting.
The Chief Minister said in the meeting that in the last paddy procurement season, there were problems in procurement of paddy due to Covid-19 and non-supply of sufficient number of gunny bags from the Centre. Keeping this in mind, he directed the officials to ensure all necessary arrangements and gunny bags for the procurement of paddy at the local level. He instructed the officials to make efforts to restart the closed jute mill of Raigad. The Chief Minister said that this year new provisions have been made in the Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojana. Banners of this scheme should be put up in the paddy procurement centers so that maximum farmers can take advantage of this scheme. Maize, Sugarcane, Kodo, Kutki, Soyabean, Pulses, along with Paddy under Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojana Oilseed crops are included. Provision has been made to give input subsidy at the rate of Rs 10,000 per acre to farmers taking other identified crops in place of paddy. There is a provision to give an input subsidy of Rs 10 thousand per acre per year for 3 years to the farmers who plant trees instead of paddy.
The Chief Minister reviewed the status of storage and sale of fertilizers for Kharif season in the meeting. He said that the supply of chemical fertilizers has been very less as compared to the demand from the Centre. Farmers should be encouraged to make maximum use of vermicompost, super compost, produced in Gauthans, so that farmers do not have to face the problem for manure. It was informed in the meeting that for Kharif 2021, only 4.49 lakh metric tonnes of fertilizers have been supplied by the State Government against the demand from the Government of India, which is 43.87 percent of the total demand. The demand for urea was 5.50 lakh metric tonnes, against which only 2.33 lakh metric tonnes of urea was supplied, which is 42.38 percent of the total demand. Similarly, against the demand of 3.20 lakh MT of DAP, 1.22 lakh MT was supplied, which is 38.40 percent of the total demand.
It was informed in the meeting that similarly a total demand of 80 thousand metric tonnes for NPK was sent to the Central Government, against which 49 thousand metric tonnes were supplied, which is 61.57 percent of the total demand. Against 75 thousand metric tonnes for MOP, 44 thousand metric tonnes were supplied which is 59.24 percent of the total demand. It was informed in the meeting that Chhattisgarh was requested to supply fertilizers as per the demand, but it was not supplied. Chhattisgarh has been supplied less fertilizers against the total allocation as compared to other states. Chhattisgarh ranks 19th in the country in the allocation of urea, 15th in DAP.
During the registration of farmers selling paddy on support price, the Chief Minister mentioned the number of farmers registered, the acreage registered, the number of farmers selling paddy, the area of paddy sold, the area decided by the farmer for taking the identified crop instead of paddy and plantation. Instructions were given to register the information about the area fixed to be done on the same portal. He said that with this, information about the area decided by the farmer for taking the identified crop in place of paddy and the area decided for plantation would be available at a single click. This will facilitate monitoring of the scheme and payment of input subsidy amount to the farmers as per the prescribed provisions. During the review, the Chief Minister directed the committees to lift the surplus paddy at the earliest. It was informed in the meeting that in the year 2020-21, 10.72 lakh metric tonnes of paddy was remaining in the committees, out of which 9.61 lakh metric tonnes were auctioned. Out of which 8.
Various schemes including Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, One Nation One Ration Card Scheme were reviewed in the meeting. It was informed in the meeting that to save paddy from rain, approval has been given for construction of 8424 platforms in procurement centers, out of which construction of 7667 platforms has been completed, construction of 2260 sheds and shed cum warehouse in 1298 procurement centers. being done, 109 godowns are being built in 109 procurement centers at a cost of Rs.13 crore 60 lakhs. In the meeting, the Chief Minister directed the fair price operators to pay the commission every quarter under the Public Distribution System
Raipur: Another big decision of Chief Minister in the interest of farmers: Now all committees will buy maize on support price: Bhupesh Baghel
