Ahead of polls, Bhupesh government approves procurement of 20 quintals of paddy per acre 

Chhattisgarh govt. to procure 20 quintals of paddy/acre, benefiting 24 lakh farmers. Govt. to pay ₹2,500/quintal in 2018, ₹3,600/quintal in 3 yrs. Centre hikes MSP, but State pays input subsidy of ₹9,000/acre. BJP claims State can't procure without Centre's help.

In a cabinet meeting held on Tuesday, the Bhupesh Baghel government in Chhattisgarh announced that it will procure a maximum of 20 quintals of paddy per acre.

The decision, announced months before the Assembly elections, is likely to benefit nearly 24 lakh farmers who are registered [2022-23] to sell the crop in Chhattisgarh. 

“In the Kharif marketing year 2023-24, the policy for procurement and custom milling of paddy and maize at support price was finalised. Under this policy, paddy and maize will be procured at the support price declared by the Government of India [GoI]. Kharif paddy will be purchased from farmers in cash and linking at support price from November 1, 2023 to January 31, 2024. Similarly, Kharif maize will be procured from November 1, 2023 to February 28, 2024. As per the announcement of the Chief Minister, maximum of 20 quintals of paddy per acre and 10 quintals of maize per acre will be procured from farmers…” a government statement read.

Critical and complicated issue   

The formal approval for the upward revision of the quantity per acre comes at a time when the politics around paddy procurement – something political commentators such as Sunil Kumar, the editor of Daily Chhattisgarh newspaper, describe as “the most significant issue” for both the politics and the economy of the State – has heated up. In the past one month, the ruling Congress and the Opposition Bharatiya Janata party have come face to face over this complicated issue that has two broad dimensions -- price and the quantity. 

Earlier this month, at one of the Bharose Ka Sammelan (gathering of trust) organised by the State government in Rajnandgaon, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel had claimed that while the government intended to increase the procurement per acre to 20 quintal, the Centre had reduced the quantity of rice it buys from Chhattisgarh from 86 lakh metric tonne to 61 metric tonne. 

“I want to convey it through this stage that Congress always serves the interest of farmers, labourers, poor, youth and women. Whether the Centre buys our rice or not, all of my cabinet colleagues are here, under any circumstances we will but 20 acre [per quintal] from the farmers,” said the Chief Minister. Earlier, he had written a letter to Union Minister of Food and Public Distribution, Peeyush Goyal requesting to keep the target of rice procurement in the central pool at 86.5 lakh metric tons in the Kharif marketing year 2023-24.