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Tripura Food and Civil Supplies Minister Sushanta Chowdhury has said that more than two lakh metric tons of paddy had been procured so far directly from the farmers at Minimum Support Price (MSP) with an estimated spending of Rs 382 crore since 2018 when the BJP government was formed in the state.
Sushanta Chowdhury made the remarks during the launch of the paddy procurement drive at Jolaibari in South Tripura district on Saturday and said that this year's target stands at 15,000 metric tons. Chowdhury during his address also urged the farmers to wait for the government's procurement drive to receive good prices. He said, "Last year, our target was 50,000 metric tons but we couldn't achieve our target even though the total production of the paddy was more than what we procured from the farmers. When we inquired about it, we came to know that some middle-man actors buy paddy from the farmers at lesser rates before the government can reach the farmers. As a department, we have certain regulations to follow but I want to urge the farmers to wait for the state government's annual drive to procure the paddy so that they can fetch good prices." Slamming the previous Left government for exploiting the farmers, Chowdhury said, "The party that ruled the state for 25 long years only exploited the farmers by instructing them to participate in party events. They raised the slogan of paddy procurement in MSP but did nothing to help the farmers." He added further, "The central government had asked the state government to procure paddy directly from farmers, which will later be reimbursed but the previous government made no efforts. When the first BJP government was formed in 2018, the proposal of paddy procurement was cleared in the first cabinet." Tripura Agriculture Minister Ratan Lal Nath, who was also present at the procurement drive spoke on different schemes and policies launched by the Tripura government to increase the income of farmers. "Our vision is not limited to paddy alone. Different crops which help farmers receive more profit, are being cultivated in various parts of the state. Not only that, market linkages are also being established with national and international markets," Nath said. Giving details about the cultivation of different crops, Nath said, "We have expanded pineapple cultivation to more than 5,000 hectares. We are also raising new plantations of jackfruit on 450 hectares of land, lemon on 6,200 hectares, betel nuts on 4,222 hectares, etc. We have exported more than 12,000 metric tons of pineapple outside the state, out of which 33 metric tons went to foreign countries." (ANI)
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