The State government will take a final decision on setting aside the condition to pay paddy production bonus to only those farmers with paddy fields of up to five acres after conferring with the Agriculture and Finance departments .
Replying to a calling attention motion on paddy procurement in the State, raised by K.D. Prasenan on Monday, Minister for Civil Supplies G.R. Anil said that the government was considering giving production incentive to all paddy farmers, notwithstanding any conditions.
The entire paddy produced by farmers will be procured. The government’s nodal agency for paddy procurement, Supplyco, has started procuring paddy directly from farmers using biometric system. Already, ₹294.48 crore has been disbursed for paddy already procured.
Mr. Anil said that ₹614.98 crore, the amount due to Supplyco, has been withheld by the Centre. The government has run up an arrears of ₹223 crore to be paid as paddy production incentive bonus. The Civil Supplies department is expecting ₹282 crore from the State government, he said.
