Assam: In assembly, while replying to questions raised by MLAs Ramendra Narayan Kalita and Nandita Das on July 14th, Wednesday, agriculture minister Atul Bora said that the Department of  Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs to give relief to farmers planning to procure paddy in the State.

Bora said that through the initiative, from next year onwards farmers of Assam will get desirable prices against paddy production. He also stated that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) failed to fulfill its commitment regarding the procurement of paddy from the farmers of Assam.

“We will put more pressure on FCI to procure more paddy from the State in the days to come,” Bora said

Moreover, Bora admitted that many government cold storage facilities have become defunct in recent times due to various reasons. So the state government has introduced a scheme to provide a subsidy of Rs.2.5 crore to private organizations or businessmen to set up cold storage facilities in the state.”

Meanwhile, Bora said the advanced estimate of paddy production in the state for 2020-21 is 82,47,640 metric tonnes (MT).

Production of ahu (autumn) paddy is estimated at 3,52,184 MT,Sali (winter) paddy at 61,02,845 MT and boro (summer) paddy at 17,92,611 MT.

As per the advanced estimate for the 2020-21 FY, paddy production in Nagaon district is 7,36,653 MT, followed by Sonitpur with 5,24,855 MT and Barpeta with 4,55,917 MT.

The total paddy production in Assam was 89,29,993 MT in 2018-19 FY and 81,21,528 MT in 2019-20, the minister added.

Bora stated that State agencies procured 1,04,883 quintals of paddy from farmers in the 2018-19 crop season, which came down to 93,263 quintals in the 2020-21 crop season is still being compiled, he added.