Kathua: Chief Agriculture Officer Kathua Visits and Inspects Paddy Procurement Centres / Mandies operationalized for procurement of Paddy in Kathua District.
Sanjeev Rai Gupta,Chief Agriculture Officer, Kathuaon Wednesdayinspected Procurement centres / Mandies of Palli, Jakhbar and Nagri which are operational in Kathua District. Upon his visit, Chief Agriculture Officer Kathua instructed the staff deployed in the Procurement Mandies to take all necessary steps such as maintenance of machinery and equipment, maintenance of record at procurement centres/ mandies for smooth and hassle free functioning of procurement centres.
Chief Agriculture Officer Kathua appealed the farmers of the District to bring their produce to the nearest procurement centre after obtaining registration number, thereby avoiding middlemen. The Govt. of India has listed Minimum Support Price (MSP) of refined Paddy at Rs.2060.00/ quintal and Rs. 2040.00 / Quintal for non-refined paddy. He said, opening of Procurement centres and procurement at Minimum Support Price (MSP) by FCI also avoids distress sale of farmer’s produce.
He also said , 2.51 lakh quintal of paddy was procured in the previous Kharif Season of 2021 . During the Kharif 2022 season, department has fixed a record estimate target of 3.00 lakh quintals of paddy procurement . This is possible due to rise in area under paddy cultivation from 28339.00 ha in Kharif 2021 to 28862.00 ha in Kharif 2022 with an average productivity of 37.2 Quintals/ ha.
It is pertinent to mention that Department of Agriculture Production and Farmers Welfare Kathua is facilitating registration of farmers at various Zonal Agriculture Offices and eleven mandies/ procurement centres are operational at Nagri, Bhajwal, Keerian, Palli, Jakhbar, Mukundpur, KundeyChak, Marheen,ChannArorian , DhanniBakhta, Dungara.
Chief Agriculture Officer,Kathua was accompanied by Sanjeev Mehta, Sub Divisional Agriculture Officer Kathua during the inspection.
