Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation likely to procure 6 LT of paddy

Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation (Supplyco) is likely to procure about 6 lakh tonnes (LT) of paddy from farmers in the state during 2014-15. The paddy procurement (Khariff and Rabi seasons) stood at 5 LT during 2013-14 and 3.6 LT during 2012-13. The total procurement has seen an increase of about 40% during 2013-14 as compared to 2012-13. This week about Rs 150 crore will be disbursed by the corporation to paddy farmers. With this, payment for the Paddy Receipt Sheet (PRS) up to March 31 will be completed in all the districts. Earlier, an amount of Rs 125 crore was paid to paddy farmers towards the cost of paddy during February and March this year. During the 2013-14 second season, about 3.2 LT of paddy has been procured by Supplyco from about one lakh paddy farmers of the state so far. It is expected that about 80,000 tonnes will be procured during month of May. The corporation, which has over 1,200 retail outlets, was targeting a turnover of Rs 5,000 crore this financial year against Rs 3,415 crore in the last fiscal.