Union Food Secretary BC Gupta has asked West Bengal government to ensure that cooperative societies act as agents of the farmers in the paddy procurement presently going on in the state.
Mr Gupta met the state chief secretary Samar Ghosh at Writers’ Buildings and admired the effective paddy procurement being done by the West Bengal government.
“Procurement should be streamlined and farmers should get payment through cheques. The sanctioned storage capacity should be fully used, the Union Food secretary said.
It is a season of paddy procurement and cooperatives are playing a big part in it. The State of Chattisgarh and Bihar are leading in engaging cooperatives in the procurement drive.
In Bihar while the market rate for paddy is Rs 500-550 per 100kg , the same is offered a rate of Rs 1080 per 100 kg thereby offering a great benefit to farmers who earlier used to be at the mercy of middle men.