Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Increase in paddy procurement

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Paddy procurement in the State increased to 2.33 lakh tonnes this year. Minister for Food and Civil Supplies C. Divakaran said here on Thursday that annual procurement had gone up by 56,000 tonnes by the end of this season compared to the previous year.

The Minister said that about 14,000 hectares of paddy fields, which were remaining fallow, had been brought under cultivation at the initiative of the government.

Mr. Divakaran said the government had procured paddy at Rs.11 a kg, and the total cost came to Rs.256 crore. Of this, Rs.133 crore had already been paid to the farmers and the balance would be cleared by the end of this month.

Payments were delayed on account of delay in getting Central subsidy, administrative delay in sanctioning State share and time taken for realisation of costs from sales.

Payments would be resumed in Kuttanad, Upper Kuttanad, Kottayam, Thrissur, Malappuram and Wayanad district on Friday.

The procured paddy was mostly being processed by 58 private mills. He said the supply of rice at Rs.2 a kg to the poor had been postponed to next week because of delay in finalisation of the list of fishermen and members of the Scheduled Castes who were eligible to get the rice.

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