Bhubaneswar: The numbers seem no music to the ears of the new BJP govt. The CUT practice of millers seems playing a spoiler in the paddy procurement process in the State.

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The cut threat has become such a menacing threat that Bhadrak collector Dilip Rourai rcently had to do a Ram Charan of Game Changer in disguise.

The State has seen a drop in farmers benefitted up to Feb 5, vis-à-vis last year.

While the State govt has targeted to procure around 59.7 lakh metric tonnes of paddy by Feb 1st week, the actual procurement stood at only 82%  of the target.

It needs mentioning that the Odisha government has targeted to procure 66LMT of kharif paddy.

With only 41 days left for the procurement of Kharif season to end, it seems the procurement target may miss the target by yards, as the procurement till Feb 5 had been around 75%.

ODISHA VS CHHATTISGARH

When it comes to kharif paddy procurement, the Chhattisgarh BJP government seems trumping their BJP counterpart here.

As per the data available with FCI, when the targeted paddy procurement in the neighbouring State till Feb had been 104.48Lakh MT, the State’s procurement has overshot the target.

Data shows paddy procurement till Feb 5 in Chhattisgarh stood at 149.25 LMT.

ODISHA ALWAYS AN ERRANT STATE!

It seems the millers in the State are more powerful than the procurement implementing agencies in the State.

As per data available with the Central govt, Odisha state failed twice in meeting the procurement target.

The data shows in Kharif Marketing season 2021-22, against the target of 77.94 LMT, the State could procure only 71.04 LMT paddy from farmers

Similarly, in the year 2023-24, the State could procure only 70.89 LMT paddy against the target of 79.82 LMT.

The State could meet the target only in the year 2022-23 when it procured around 79.16 LMT against the target of 71.63 LMT.

ODISHA VS CHHATTISGARH VS PUNJAB

Here is a comparison of the three states with regard to their paddy procurement efficiency.

KMS 2021-22

KMS 2022-23
 

KMS 2023-24

A look at the above data brings down the following inferences.

• Odisha has displayed a surprising trend over the years.
• When after taking into account higher production of paddy, the then govt had fixed higher target for procurement, the actual procurement turned out far below than the estimate
• On the contrary, when the whole nation has expected a drop in paddy production during year 2022-23, the state sof Chhattisgarh and Punjab had reduced their procurement target marginally, and the actual procurement fell far below the pruned target.
• The Odisha case is, here too the government had also pruned the procurement target, but at the end the then govt ended up procuring more.
• Such a trend sounds little illogical.

LESSER FARMERS BENEFITTING IN ODISHA

As per the data available with the Centre, as on Feb 5, 2024, following count of farmers have benefitted in the 3 –top procuring states in the country.

ODISHA

Registered farmers – 17.5092 Lakh

Farmers Benefited – 10.54637 Lakh

MSP Benefitted   farmers – 10.06682 lakh (last year over 13 lakh farmers benefitted)

CHHATTISGARH

Registered farmers – 27.95381 Lakh

Farmers Benefited – 25.49592 Lakh

MSP Benefitted farmers – 23.89759 Lakh

PUNJAB

Registered farmers – 8.16903 Lakh

Farmers Benefited –7.86400 Lakh

MSP Benefitted farmers –7.62723 Lakh

A glance at the farmers benefited from MSP in Odisha and the other two states infer the following.

• In Odisha, except for the election years 2022-23, when the procurement exceeded the target, the number of farmers benefitted stood at 97.7%
• In all other years since 2015-16, the percentage of farmers benefitted in the State stood between 58-60%
• During the Covid pandemic years 2020-21 to 2021-22, the percentage benefitted jumped to 76 – 88% .

On the contrary, In Punjab the percentage benefited farmers hovers between over 100% to 98%

ODISHA VS CHHATTISGARH FARMERS

Unlike Odisha, the neighbouring State has been far better pro-farmer.

• In 2015-16, the farmers registered stood at around 12 lakh
• In 2024-25, the registered farmer count up at 27.9 lakh
• And the percentage benfited over the years stood at over 92%.