Bhubaneswar: The Inter-Ministerial Committee, chaired by the Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment and Energy KV Singh Deo, reviewed the Kharif 2025-26 paddy procurement today at Lokseva Bhavan.
The Deputy Chief Minister has directed the officers to cooperate with farmers and to resolve their problems promptly in the paddy procurement process. The meeting has advised the departmental officers involved in this process to visit the mandis on a regular basis.
Currently, Kharif 2025-26 paddy procurement is ongoing in the state. So far, procurement through mandis has been started in 11 districts of the state. These include Bargarh, Balangir, Boudh, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Nuapada, Sambalpur, Subarnapur and Sundargarh. Along with this, CCTV cameras have been installed in all the mandis of the state and the entire process is being monitored through a 24-hour control room.
Keeping in mind the convenience of the farmers, this year, more mandis have been strengthened than before and model mandis have been constructed as per the standards prescribed by the Central Government.
According to the available data, to date, 4,39,294 metric tonnes of paddy has been procured from 97,972 farmers in the state through various mandis. In Bargarh district, the maximum 36,356 farmers have given 1,63,288 metric tonnes of paddy to the mandi, and till date, a total of 9,41,433 farmers have been issued tokens in the state. Paddy collection will also begin from the scheduled date in other districts.
To keep the entire process transparent and to ensure that the farmers get their dues correctly, e-KYC facility is being adopted at the time of registration and money is being transferred directly to the bank account linked to Aadhaar. Live tracking of vehicles moving from mandi to mill is also being done by the department through VTS application.
Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari, Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Minister Rabi Narayan Naik, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Krushna Chandra Patra, Cooperation Minister Pradeep Bal Samanta, Principal Secretary Dr. Arabinda Kumar Padhee, Sanjay Kumar Singh were present in the meeting and presented their views. Senior officers from the department of Agriculture and Farmer Empowerment, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare, Cooperation, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water attended the meeting.
