UP govt eases e-procurement norms for small farmers

The Uttar Pradesh government has eased e-procurement norms of paddy from small and marginal farmers, allowing them to sell up to 100 quintals of the commodity without verification of crop and land details. This is being done to boost procurement. Earlier, procurement of up to 25 quintals from small farmers and 50 quintals from marginal farmers was allowed without verification. “Verification of a large number of farmers had shown that many have grown crops other than paddy,” said an official, who did not wish to be identified.

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Paddy is purchased through e-procurement in Uttar Pradesh wherein a farmer has to fill in details of the land area and the area under paddy. This year, crop procurement has been sluggish due to factors including issues related to moisture content, agitation by millers and farmers turning to private traders as they are being turned away by employees of state procurement agencies.

“Going by weak arrivals in the past one month, procurement is likely to fall 20-25% over the last year,” said a senior official.