Bhubaneswar, Dec 26: While the paddy procurement is continuing in the state during the current Kharif season, advance tokens have been issued to the farmers in four more districts.
Advance tokens have been given to farmers in Balasore, Nayagarh, Gajapati and Kandhamal districts. Procurement will begin in Balasore and Nayagarh s on December 29, while in Gajapati on December 30 and in Kandhamal on December 31 this month. Tokens were issued to 65,273 farmers in Balasore district, 28,723 in Nayagarh district, 10,112 in Gajapati and 3176 in Kandhamal district.
Minimum facilities like temporary sheds, drinking water and toilets have been arranged in the mandis of all these districts. CCTV cameras are installed in each mandi and officers are deployed to supervise the procurement process.
Apart from this, procurement is currently underway in 12 districts of the state namely Bargarh, Balangir, Boudh, Ganjam, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Nuapada, Sambalpur, Subarnapur and Sundargarh. So far, 630,438 metric tonnes of paddy have been collected from 1,41,381 farmers from these districts. Along with this, Rs. 919.13 crore has been paid as minimum support price per quintal, while Rs. 283.61 crore has been paid as input assistance to the farmers' accounts.
