Paddy procurement drive a success, claims Tripura Food Minister Manoj Deb

A Correspondent

Agartala: The government’s paddy procurement drive has brought about a massive change in society and the people who were trading in ganja are returning to the rice cultivation fold. Tripura Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Manoj Deb said this after inaugurating a paddy procurement camp at Jirania on Friday.

He said, earlier the farmers were leaving paddy cultivation as they were not getting remunerative prices for their crops and the then government was encouraging them to cultivate ganja for easy money. But things have changed and farmers are now getting paddy at Rs 18,15 per kg.

He said the new situation has emboldened the confidence of the farmers and they are now cultivating paddy in more land which used to remain uncultivated during the time of the previous government as the farmers were not getting due price for their crops.

Claiming a big success in the paddy procurement programme, the Minister said this year the government has set a target of procuring 50,000 MT and 30,000 MT of it will be procured in the first phase. Out of it, 17,000 MT has already been collected and the department is confident about reaching the target.

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