Bhadrak: Worried over the long delay in procurement of paddy, farmers in Basudevpur block of Bhadrak district staged a demonstration by placing gunny bags filled with paddy on roads.
According to sources, tonnes of paddy brought for sale by farmers from distant villages are lying outside the mandis as no millers have come forward to procure them.Sources said the farmers are facing a tough time as the paddy stocks are lying in the open and are being affected due to the unseasonal rain.The procurement process was supposed to be done through 22 cooperative societies and around 12,642 farmers from the area had registered to participate in procurement. Though the government had a target to procure 7,01,667 quintals of paddy from the area, sources said that not even half has been procured so far.