Bhubaneswar, Oct 23 (Reporter) The Odisha cabinet on Wednesday approved the Food and Paddy procurement policy for Kharif Marketing Season 2024-25 to regulate all aspects of paddy and rice procurement. State Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja told newsmen after the cabinet meeting that as per the new policy, the paddy will be procured from the registered farmers by the payment of Minimum Support Price. The paddy will be milled into rice by custom Millers appointed for the purpose and the rice obtained will be utilised in state’s Public Distribution System to meet the requirement of the National Food Security Act and State Food Security Act and other welfare schemes. The surplus rice will be delivered to the Food Corporation of India and transported to deficit states by the FCI. A tentative target of 54lakhs metric tons(LMT) in terms of rice has been fixed for KMS 2024-25.In terms of paddy, it comes to around 80 LMT. For Kharif,the tentative target for procurement of paddy would be 66 lakh MT, and for Rabi 14 lakh MT. There is no bar for procurement of any higher quantum if more paddy comes to the Mandies from the registered farmers. A cabinet Sub Committee/ Group of Ministers shall review the implementation of the Policy and modify the overall target if, the need so arises. Paddy (Kharif Crop) for KMS 2024-25 will be procured in the State during the period from November 2024 to March 2025, and Paddy (Rabi Crop) from May to June 2025. The District will schedule its procurement periods within these broad timelines. Paddy will be procured from farmers who are registered in the online portal of FS & CW Department. Aadhaar shall be the only ID proof for a registered farmer to sell paddy to the government. The sale of paddy is subject to Aadhaar-based biometric identification. 100 percent field verification and validation of paddy growing areas through satellite imagery are being adopted to verify land details and paddy crop growing areas. The authenticity of land details shall be verified in terms of modalities to be prescribed by FS & CW Department. All registered and eligible farmers shall be intimated in advance by way of SMS to their mobile phones regarding the date of sale of paddy and quantity to be sold. Small and marginal farmers shall be accorded priority for the sale of paddy to the Government. There would be no imposition on farmers to keep aside a certain portion of their produce for personal consumption by their families. A registered farmer can sell his entire surplus, as per the approved yield rate, to the Government. This will facilitate the entry of more small and marginal farmers into the procurement fold...////...