Bihar govt plans to buy more paddy

Paddy production in Bihar has reached record levels, said state food and consumers affairs minister Shyam Rajak.

He said the state government has made a plan involving Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACs), State Food Corporation and Food Corporation of India (FCI) to buy another 30 lakh metric tonnes of paddy during kharif marketing season.

In order to meet the minimum target, SFC has set a monthly procurement plan. It will ensure a minimum procurement of five lakh metric tonnes of paddy this month, 12.5 lakh metric tonnes in February and 7.5 lakh metric tonnes in March.

The State government will try to meet the targets by April 2012, if not March. Rajak said several food agencies have bought a total of 2.51 lakh metric tonnes of paddy, of which Primary Agricultural Credit Socities  bought 2.05 lakh metric tonnes and SFC 24,000 metric tonnes.

The paddy was bought directly from farmers. FCI has bought 24,450 metric tonnes of paddy so far.

The Bihar State Food Corporation is the nodal agency for paddy procurement. There are 6,532 Primary Agricultural Credit Socities in Bihar involved in buying paddy directly from farmers.