A farmer looks at his drought-hit field in western Orissa (file picture)

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 15: The Orissa government has fallen short of target for procuring paddy during the 2010-11 procurement season that ended last month because of crop loss for drought and unseasonal rainfall.

The government may fix a lesser target for the coming year keeping the recent drought and floods in view, official sources said.

The target would be fixed by the state cabinet while approving the food procurement policy for the coming year, said state food supplies and consumer welfare secretary M.S. Padhee.

“A target had been set for procuring paddy equivalent to 32 lakh tonnes of rice from farmers by different government agencies during the 2010-11 kharif year. In reality, however, the procurement agencies could procure paddy equivalent to 25 lakh tonnes of rice,” said Padhee

“The shortfall was because of crop loss caused by drought and unseasonal rain last year,” he explained.

The review was undertaken at the state-level procurement committee meeting chaired by chief secretary Bijay Patnaik here today.

It was revealed from the review that last year state-run Orissa Civil Supplies Corporation had procured paddy equivalent to around 21 lakh tonnes. It was procured mainly through primary agriculture cooperative societies, women self-help groups, pani panchyats (water user associations) and regulated market committees.

Chief secretary Patnaik advised the procurement agencies to utilise the available infrastructure and maximise the procurement capacity for the coming year. He also instructed the cooperation department to create multipurpose additional storage facilities at primary agricultural cooperative societies level for storage of both paddy and rice. The food supplies department was asked to submit the detailed plan of procurement for the coming year to the government within a week.

The Food Corporation of India was advised to prepare a detailed schedule of lifting of rice from state agencies.

The chief secretary also directed the procurement agencies to send online data regarding daily procurement with the names of farmers. Procurement agencies not having internet connectivity were advised to make use of common service centres for transmission of data.

“The food procurement policy for the coming year will be approved by the state cabinet soon,” said food supplies secretary Padhee.

In another development, the Centre has communicated minimum support price of Rs 1,080 per quintal for common paddy and Rs 1,110.00 for A-grade paddy.

Official sources indicated that the government might fix a lesser target for the coming year keeping the recent floods and drought in mind.

The rice production this year was estimated to be around 66 to 68 lakh tonnes, as against previous year’s production of 69.17 lakh tonnes.