Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal on January 8 reiterated that his government is committed to Rs 1868 Minimum Support Price (MSP) of paddy for every quintal to the farmers of the state as the government has been procuring the paddy from the farmers with the same MSP.
Chairing a meeting to discuss the modalities to strengthen the supply chain of paddy procurement of the state, Sonowal asked Food, Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs department and Agriculture department to review the existing system, remove the bottlenecks and give a shape to the simpler procedure for the farmers to sell their produce to the government agencies.
He observed that the method for selling the produce by the farmers and procuring the paddy and other essentials by the government should be simpler and devoid of any procedural difficulties.
Sonowal also maintained that his government is committed to provide Rs 1868 to the farmers as MSP for every quintal of paddy.
“Economy of the state is predominantly dependent on agriculture. The growth of the state is also dependent on the socio-economic development of the farmers. Therefore, state government always remained committed to the socio-economic development of the farming community of the state,” Sonowal said.
He at the same time requested the farmers to sell the produce to the government authorised agencies including Food Corporation of India for the government to ensure MSP to the farmers.
Recognizing the role of the FCI in paddy procurement in the state, Sonowal asked executive director at FCI, Manoj Kumar Gogoi to increase paddy procurement centres beyond the existing 39 centres in the state.
Sonowal observed that since the farmers grow their produce in rural areas, there must be procurement centres at the village level.
Stating that the growth of agriculture is dependent on production, procurement and marketing, Sonowal also harped on the development of rural infrastructure to facilitate procurement and marketing of the produce of the farmers.
