Govt to procure rice directly from farmers

Assam Government has decided to procure rice directly from farmers for the first time through from October/November of this year. In this connection, a high level meeting was held in the Directorate of Agriculture in presence of Agriculture Minister Nilomani Sen Deka on 24.3.12 and formulated strategies in this regard.

Outcome of this meeting was apprised on 26.3.12 to the Chief Minister of Assam in a meeting to be held at Dispur.

It may be mentioned that, Agriculture Department has already decided to produce additional 15 lakh metric tons of rice in the coming year. To achieve this target of additional 15 lakh metric tons of rice, this programme is initiated for the benefit of the farmers.

Agriculture Minister also decided to send officer’s teams to the other states of India to find possibilities of marketing rice outside Assam.

In may be mention that, Food Corporation of India has already procured 11,813 metric tons of rice( as on 23.3.12) from 13 procurement centres across Assam during current year against the target of 30,000 metric tons.