Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Friday informed that that the state government is committed to Rs 1,868 Minimum Support Price (MSP) for paddy for every quintal to the farmers of Assam as the government itself has been procuring the paddy from the farmers with the same MSP.
This was stated in a press release issued by the CM's office.
CM Sonowal chaired a meeting today and discussed the modalities to strengthen supply chain of paddy procurement of Assam. He asked Food, Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs Department and Agriculture Department to review the existing system, remove bottlenecks in the system, and give shape to a simpler procedure for the farmers to sell their produce to the government agencies.
"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", CM Sonowal advocated.
While saying that his government is committed to provide Rs. 1868 to the farmers as MSP for every quintal of paddy, CM Sonowal requested the farmers to sell the produce to the government authorised agencies including Food Corporation of India (FCI) 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 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. He, therefore, asked the FCI to set up procurement centres in each development block of the state which would also act as sell points for the farmers.
Furthermore, CM Sonowal, while stating that growth of agriculture is dependent on production, procurement and marketing, also harped on development of rural infrastructure to facilitate procurement and marketing of farmers' produce.
The meeting was attended by Minister for Food, Civil Supply and Consumer Affairs Phani Bhusan Choudhury, Additional Chief Secretary to Food, Civil Supply and Consumer Affairs Syedain Abbasi, Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister Paban Kumar Borthakur, Principal Secretary to Agriculture Rajesh Prasad, Executive Director to FCI Manoj Kumar Gogoi, its GM Kumud Kumar Barua, other senior officers of the government.
