In order to double the income of farmers, the paddy procurement programme under Kharif  season at  the minimum support price (MSP)  at Rs 23, the state government has procured a total of 17,497.109 metric tons from farmers.

Addressing a press conference at Civil Secretariat on Tuesday afternoon, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Sushanta Chowdhury said that altogether 8922 farmers of the state get benefit of MSP and a total of Rs. 40.25 crore has utilized and so far Rs. 35.52 crore of amount have already been disbursed directly to farmers.

In the interests of the farmers, this time the minimum support price (MSP)  has been increased by Rs 23 per kg. Hence, the paddy has been lifted at an enhanced minimum support price (MSP) of Rs. 2,300 per quintal instead of last season’s  Rs 2,183 per quintal from the farmers at 51 (Forty-nine)  designated paddy procurement places  (PPC) across 19 subdivisions of the state, said  Sushanta Chowdhury.

 Given the price hike in every sector, the farmers are getting an increased MSP  at Rs 1.17 per kg  at Rs2,300 per quintal in place of the Rs 2,183 MSP paid last time. This increased price has been handed over  through online mode into farmers bank accounts without making commitments to the middlemen and is also proving to help earn more to their labor, said the Minister.

The entire range of paddy procurement operations is carried out by the Department of Food in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare with financial support from the Food Corporation of India (FCI).  In all the 51 PPCs, farmers of the state  sell their quality paddy at the enhanced MSP, said the Minister and added that remaining 12%  amount of paddy procurement  will be disbursed soon.

He said that the paddy procurement has been started from  designated centres on December 19, 2024 last and has been continued up to February 8th, 2025.

Chowdhury said that after the formation of BJP government in Tripura, the procurement of paddy from farmers of the state with MSP has been started twice in a year for doubling the farmer’s income and in the last ‘Ravi’ and ‘Kharif’ seasons, the government from 2018-19 to till date, the state government has procured 2, 25,356.805 metric tons of paddy directly from 1,17,049 farmers  and government has utilized  a sum of  Rs. 446.13 crore.

The paddy procurement in 2018-19 has been started with Rs. 17.50 per kg of MSP and in the present financial year, it has been increased at Rs. 23 per kg.

During the press meet, the additional secretary of Transport department, Subrata Chowdhury, director of Food and Civil Supply department Sumit Lodh and joint director of Food department, Abhijit Biswas were also present.