CORRESPONDENT
AGARTALA: The paddy procurement drive for the Rabi season launched earlier has achieved 18,447.26 MT which is 89% of the target of 20,710 MT. The procurement exercise, which commenced on July 10 and continued until August 25, 2026, was conducted through 31 designated Paddy Procurement Centres (PPCs) spread across all eight districts, covering a vast stretch of the state from Dharmanagar to Sabroom.
The state-level procurement drive was formally inaugurated at the Kakraban Agriculture Sub-Division in Gomati district by Chief Minister Prof. Dr. Manik Saha on July 10. The government had fixed the Minimum Support Price (MSP) at Rs 2,369 per quintal, aiming to provide farmers with assured returns for their produce. According to the Food Department, a total of 9,199 farmers benefited from the Rabi procurement operation, marking a significant rise over the 6,130 farmers who participated during the previous Kharif phase.
Officials said the increased participation is particularly encouraging as it indicates that a larger number of small and marginal farmers are now making use of the government's temporary procurement centres to sell their produce at the assured MSP. So far, Rs 41.61 crore has been directly transferred to the bank accounts of participating farmers against their procured paddy.
However, around Rs 2.08 crore remains pending in the final payment-processing pipeline.
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