Maha: Paddy procurement likely to start next week in Gondia, Bhandara

The paddy procurement process in Gondia and Bhandara districts in Maharashtra is likely to begin on a regular basis from November 7, a senior official said on Thursday.

Gondia, which is also known as the 'Rice City' due to its innumerable paddy processing mills, and Bhandara are major belts for the crop, with more than five lakh farmers involved and cultivation area exceeding 3.36 lakh hectares.

''We are expecting the regular paddy procurement process to start from November 7. This year the process was delayed to due to rains. This season, 110 procurement centres have been approved for the district,'' Gondia District Marketing Officer Manoj Bajpayee said.

''There are 46 procurement centres for Bhandara but this figure might rise as the paddy production may be on the higher side,'' DMO Ajay Bisne said.

The minimum support price has been set at Rs 2,040 per quintal for common grade and Rs 2,060 for grade A paddy, the officials added.

The procurement targets for Bhandara and Gondia stand at 41 lakh and 39 lakh quintals.

The Tribal Development Corporation has also set up 44 procurement centres, comprising 41 in Gondia and three in Nagpur's Tamtek, TDC (Bhandara) regional manager Sopan Sambre said.