Government is committed to Rs. 1868 MSP of paddy for every quintal: Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal reiterated that his government is committed to Rs. 1868 Minimum Support Price (MSP) of paddy for every quintal to the farmers of the state as the government has been procuring the paddy from the farmers with the same MSP.

Chairing a meeting to discuss the modalities to strengthen supply chain of paddy procurement of the state, Chief Minister Sonowal asked Food, Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs Department and Agriculture Department to review the existing system, remove the bottlenecks and give a shape to simpler procedure for the farmers to sell their produce to the government agencies.

He observed that the method for selling the produce by the farmers and procuring the paddy and other essentials by the government should be simpler which devoid of any procedural difficulties.


Sonowal also maintained that his government is committed to provide Rs. 1868 to the farmers as MSP for every quintal of paddy. “Economy of the state is predominantly dependent on agriculture. The growth of the state is also dependent on the socio-economic development of the farmers. Therefore, State government, always remained committed to the socio-economic development of the farming community of the state."

He at the same time requested the farmers to sell the produce to the governmentauthorized agencies including Food Corporation of India for the government to ensure MSP to the farmers.

Recognizing the role of the FCI in paddy procurement in the state, Sonowal asked Executive Director FCI Manoj Kumar Gogoi to increase paddy procurement centres beyond the existing 39 centres in the state. Sonowal observed that since the farmers grow their produce in rural areas, there must be procurement centres at the village level. He, therefore, asked the FCI to set up procurement centres in each development block of the state which would also act as sell points for the farmers.

The Chief Minister also asked the FCI authority to set up procurement and sell points of the FCI in the Barak Valley Region on priority basis. Sonowal also flagged several related issues with the FCI to fine tune the production, procurement and marketing of the agricultural produce and revamp the supply chain of the sector.

Sonowal also asked Principal Secretary Agriculture Rajesh Prasad to integrate the components of infrastructural development of agriculture in the rural areas with Chief Minister Samagra Grammya Unnayan Yojana.