Chief Minister Mr. Bhupesh Baghel has written a letter to Union Minister for Food and Public Distribution, Mr. Piyush Goyal, expressing concern over the reduction in the allocated target for rice procurement in the central pool.
He urged the Minister to reconsider the request to set the target at 86.5 lakh metric tonnes for the Kharif marketing year 2023-24. Furthermore, he has urged the minister to instruct the Jute Commissioner to supply 3.56 lakh newly manufactured jute bags for packaging the produced rice.
Chief Minister Mr. Bhupesh Baghel mentioned that, according to the proceedings of the meeting of Food Secretaries convened by the Department of Food and Public Distribution, Government of India, on August 21, 2023, the estimated paddy procurement in the state for the year 2023–24 has been revised from 130 lakh metric tonnes to 86.5 lakh metric tonnes of produced rice.
Additionally, for the sixth supply plan of jute packaging, issued on September 6, 2023, the supply quantity of new jute bags for rice procurement in the central pool has been reduced from 3.56 lakh to 2.45 lakh bags.
Chief Minister Mr. Baghel announced that the Chhattisgarh government has decided to increase the state government’s procurement limit for paddy in the Kharif marketing year 2023–24 to 20 quintals per acre. This limit had remained fixed at 15 quintals per acre since the Kharif marketing year 2014–15 for several years.
A request was made to maintain the target of procuring 86 lakh metric tonnes of rice in the central pool, considering the increased paddy production in recent years and the adoption of improved seed varieties and better fertiliser management by farmers in the state, particularly in the plains of Central Chhattisgarh.
Consequently, the state government has increased the procurement limit for paddy in the state from 15 quintals per acre in response to demands from farmers’ groups, and it has been set at a maximum of 20 quintals per acre by the state government.
According to the initial advance estimates provided by the state’s Agriculture Department, it is projected that there will be rice production of 136.5 lakh metric tonnes in the state, cultivated across 36 lakh hectares. With the exception of a few areas, monsoon conditions in the state favour rice cultivation. In some places where there is a shortage of water for irrigation, canal irrigation management has also been implemented. Given these arrangements, it is imperative for rice production in the state to surpass the initial advance estimates.
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