Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government is set to start purchase of paddy on minimum support price (MSP) from the farmers of the state from October 1 for the year 2023-2024 and has issued necessary guidelines in this regard.
“It is mandatory for the farmers of the state to register on the Food and Logistics department’s website ‘fcs.up.gov.in’, or the ‘UP KISAN MITRA’ mobile app by August 31 to be able to sell their produce to the government,” a government spokesman said here on Monday.
As per the guidelines issued by the department, paddy will be procured only from the registered farmers. The Yogi Adityanath government has also issued a toll-free number ‘1800 1800 150’ to address problems of registered farmers and facilitate hassle-free sale of their produce.
Besides, farmers can contact the district food marketing officer of their city, regional marketing officer of tehsil or marketing inspector of the block to seek help.
The Yogi government has kept the support price of paddy at Rs 2,183 per quintal for common paddy and Rs 2,203 per quintal for Grade A paddy for the season 2023-24. The government has announced region-wise dates for procurement of paddy. For example, the purchase of paddy in western Uttar Pradesh and Bundelkhand will take place from October 1 to January 31, 2024. It includes Lucknow division (Hardoi, Sitapur, Lakhimpur) as well as Bareilly, Moradabad, Meerut, Saharanpur, Agra, Aligarh and Jhansi divisions.
Similarly, paddy will be bought from farmers of eastern UP from November 1 this year to February 29, 2024. This includes Lucknow division (Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Unnao), and Chitrakoot, Kanpur, Ayodhya, Devipatan, Basti, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh, Varanasi, Mirzapur and Prayagraj divisions.
“This time the number of paddy purchase centres is being increased and a plan is being prepared to operate about 4,000 purchasing centres of the Food and Civil Supplies department and other purchasing agencies this year,” the spokesman said.
All the centres will operate from 9 am to 5 pm. In these centres farmers will learn about registration, verification of land area, purchase and MSP payment through the department’s ‘UP Kisan Mitra’ mobile app while sitting at home, the spokesman said and added that arrangements have been made to pay the price of paddy procured from farmers to their Aadhaar linked bank accounts directly through PFMS.
“Paddy will be procured through electronic point of purchase (e-pop machine) on the basis of Aadhaar authentication. Farmers who have already registered for wheat and paddy procurement do not need to re-register for Kharif marketing year 2023-24. All they have to do is to modify the registration and lock it again so that the government can purchase the produce from them,” the official said. —IANS
